Bradford roll back the years at Marvellous Old Odsal

Decrepit Old Odsal (DOD) and Marvellous Old Odsal (MOD). We saw both sides to the grand old ground and both sides to Bradford in the Bulls' comeback of comebacks from 20-0 down to beat Wigan 22-20. DOD is the tired, dank and joyless place those of us with pre-Super League memories recall all too well. MOD is vibrant, fun and spectacular, which summed up Bradford's second half coming to life.

The place erupted as Glenn Hall crashed over in the final few seconds and Matt Orford kicked the winning conversion. The Bulls had been jeered off at half time. "Do you know how to spell R U B B I S H ?" one fan bellowed at us in the press box. Naturally we had written Bradford off, just as we had Wigan when they trailed 30-6 to the Bulls in the play-offs in 2007. Who couldn't after the most defensively naive and ham-fisted 40 minutes imaginable, with Orford the worst culprit.

Wigan had bombed a few tries but the four they did score before half time were out of the top drawer. Orford's dreadful kicking made it a field day - or should that be a field half ? - for Amos Roberts. And then Matt Awful became the Ox, the best scrum half never to play for Australia. The former Manly Sea Eagle's strength and determination were too much for a crumbling Wigan. Bradford hauled their stricken opponents in, just as Wigan had done in their extraordinary recovery in winning 31-30 at Odsal in 2007, and the noise at the end was quite defeaning.

Cue mad re-writes in the press box. Marvellous Old Odsal. PICTURE BY ANDREW VARLEY