A last-minute drop goal from Sean Long broke the hearts of 2001 champions Bradford Bulls and took the Tetley's Super League crown back to Knowsley Road for the fourth time in seven years.

The bookmakers could not separate the teams, and for more than 80 minutes there was nothing to choose between the gladiatorial giants in a Grand Final which will live long in the memory of a record crowd of 61,138 at Old Trafford.

The epic encounter ebbed and flowed throughout, and a first-ever period of extra-time loomed large until Long settled frayed nerves with the most important single point of his career.

Bradford thought they were robbed in 1999 when Long kicked a match-winning conversion at the same Theatre of Dreams, but this dramatic finish will forever remained etched in their tortured minds.

The outcome maintained St Helens' dominance of the Super League era and in particular their edge over a Bradford side beaten in all five finals by their arch rivals.

There were shades of St Helens' tense 8-6 victory of 1999 throughout a pulsating clash as they overcame a terrific first-half onslaught to turn the tables on the Yorkshiremen.

Bradford had the early encouragement of a third-minute try from centre Scott Naylor after Robbie Paul and Michael Withers had spotted a gaping hole on the Saints left.

The Bulls dominated possession as Paul Deacon kicked one of his two penalty shots at goal and was denied a try by video referee Gerry Kershaw when slow-motion replays uncovered a knock-on by team-mate Jamie Peacock earlier in the move.

But the Bulls never capitalised on their blazing start in which prop forwards Joe Vagana, hoping to impress watching New Zealand coach Gary Freeman, and Stuart Fielden tore into the Saints defence to lay the platform for impressive scrum-half Deacon to work his magic.

Against all predictions, it was Bradford who produced the flair normally associated with their opponents.

But the Bulls' finishing failed to match the ambitious running and passing of devil-may-care wingmen Tevita Vaikona and Lesley Vainikolo, another player with sights on the Kiwi tour.

Saints, resolute in defence, were grateful for their opponents' generosity and took their chances to turn an 8-0 deficit into a 12-8 interval lead.

Long was never far from the action, and it was from his kick that St Helens scored their first try - Martin Gleeson and Sean Hoppe working the ball back for second rower Mike Bennett to scoot over unopposed after Bradford had run out of defenders.

If there was a hint of luck about their first try Saints simply oozed good fortune when Costin, who could do little right after his early good work, lost the ball in Gleeson's tackle inside his own 20-metre area - and Keiron Cunningham seized on the loose ball and evaded three would-be tacklers to get Long over.

Long kicked both conversions, one of them a magnificent touchline shot from the same spot where he struck the winner three years earlier, to edge his side into a four-point lead.

But Bradford never stopped trying to play football, and their persistence paid with two tries in four minutes early in the second half.

Burly front rowers Brian McDermott and Paul Anderson handled and ran like half-backs to get Paul haring to the line within three minutes of the re-start, and Saints had barely recovered when Naylor got Withers into his stride.

Withers, the Bulls' hat-trick hero of last year, finished decisively - twisting out of Darren Albert's brave last-ditch tackle to touch down by the corner flag.

The game looked to be heading Bradford's way at that stage. But Saints never give up and, after Sculthorpe had been hauled down inches short of the line, Cunningham and Long worked the ball out wide for Gleeson to coast over.

Long was off target for the first time but he put over a penalty shortly afterwards to tie the scores and tried to break the deadlock on 72 minutes with a drop goal attempt which went agonisingly wide.

Sculthorpe also tried for a one-pointer from 40 metres, while Deacon twice attempted drop goals as the match built to a tremendous crescendo.

Only a last-gasp tackle from Bennett which ripped the shorts of Leon Pryce kept Saints in the game, and the tension became almost unbearable as captain Chris Joynt drove to the posts to set up the position from which Long at last found the target.

While Saints celebrated, however, full-back Paul Wellens was left with a suspected fractured eye socket which put him out of the game for all but the first two minutes.

He played on in the 2001 World Club Challenge victory over Brisbane with a similiar injury but this time was forced to watch and agonise as the never-say-die Saints pulled off a famous victory.