THE mighty boots of Bradford's half backs Henry Paul and Paul Deacon laid the platofrm for a storming 27-14 win over the Saints and Valley Parade

Paul's remarkable display of marksmanship, in which he succeeded with all eight attempts at goal, allied to a hat-trick of drop goals from Paul Deacon, sank the Saints and kept the Bulls in pole position in Super League.

Saints outscored their hosts by three tries to two but were kicked to death by the mighty boots of the Bulls half-back pair.

One of Paul's six stunning penalties came from five metres inside his own half while Deacon's third one-pointer was a towering 40-metre effort.

"Henry was fantastic and it's all down to practice," said Bradford coach Brian Noble. "He practices every day.

"We talked about knocking points off every time we got to that part of the field. Paul Deacon's drop goals were innovative and kept them under the cosh."

St Helens were on course for their first away win over Bradford since 1995 when they scored the only tries of a pulsating first half through the impressive David Fairleigh, who later added a second, and winger Anthony Stewart.

They also defended superbly but Paul made them pay for their indiscipline - Wayne McDonald was despatched to the sin bin for a professional foul too far - and the Bulls finished powerfully to secure the precious points with tries in the final quarter from Michael Withers and Graham Mackay.

The only blight for Bradford was the sin-binning of winger Leon Pryce for apparently throwing the ball at a touchjudge.

The result leaves Saints struggling to hang onto a top-three spot and with it an easier run in the Grand Final Series. They will drop to fourth if Hull beat London Broncos at the Boulevard tomorrow.

Meanwhile, Wigan stay on the heels of Bradford after a 28-12 victory over Warrington at the JJB Stadium.

Captain Andy Farrell dominated the match as the Warriors capitalised on the visitors' errors to end their three-match winning run.

In a bad-tempered affair, three players received yellow cards and Wigan prop forward Harvey Howard was put on report after an apparent brush with referee Steve Ganson.

Wigan coach Stuart Raper declined to comment on the Howard incident but took a swipe at Warrington's tactics.

"Their game plan was simple and predictable and, if that's the way they are going to play, the game is going backwards," said Raper. "I'm glad we beat them."