Paul Deacon wasn't taking any phone calls the day after the Bulls last played St Helens.

With Bradford trailing 26-28 in the dying minutes, Deacon - seemingly believing the scores were tied - kicked a drop goal.

After missing with a second shot that would have earned the Bulls a deserved draw, Deacon blamed himself for the defeat and was in no mood to talk to the press.

"I was gutted to say the least after what happened at the end of that game," he now admits.

"I think the expression on my face at the time said that I knew I'd done something wrong. I put the responsibility on myself to be the playmaker and decide what we should and shouldn't do and I made a big booboo.

"I then had the chance to make it right and I didn't take it. We should have won that game and I probably had a big input as to why we didn't."

Although Deacon admits full responsibility for mistakenly kicking the first one-pointer, he did receive a call from a team-mate to do it.

"One of the lads behind me said 'drop a goal' and as the ball came to me I thought, 'drop a goal, are we level'? Just as I caught the ball I thought 'oh yeah, I'll drop a goal'. Then I turned around straight away and thought 'what have I done'?"

Now, with Saints making the return trip to Odsal, Deacon is in a rich vein of form. After being restored to his favoured scrum half position against Hull on Saturday he duly claimed the man-of-the-match award with a near faultless display.

"I was back in my number one position and that helped a bit, but all the lads were buzzed up for it and we enjoyed it," he said.

But Deacon insisted he wasn't trying to prove a point after spending time at hooker recently.

"I don't think like that. I just think 'let's play well for the team'. I do enjoy scrum half more than hooker but it is about whatever helps the team."

Deacon is predicting a colossal battle on Sunday: "Saints had a great win against Leeds last time out but we are full of confidence. We are looking forward to it."