Will Sharp grabbed a hat-trick of tries as Harlequins kept their play-off hopes alive with a battling 36-24 win over visitors Bradford in the engage Super League.

Sharp struck twice early on, then crossed in the dying seconds to seal victory after the Bulls had threatened to steal the points.

Both sides adopted a tough-tackling approach as neither team made much headway in the opening 10 minutes, although David Halley thought he had crossed for the visitors early on, only to be called back for a forward pass.

But all that changed when Quins produced two tries in three minutes midway through the half to take command.

Firstly, Danny Ward bounced off a tackle and released Chris Melling, who had a clear run to the line.

Almost immediately Henry Paul and David Howell combined to free winger Sharp, who scampered over in the corner.

Bradford were unable to create any serious attacking opportunities, and the home side struck twice again just before half-time to open up a sizeable lead.

Looking to run from everywhere, Scott Hill and Rob Purdham stretched the defence to allow Howell to dive over - and seconds later Howell broke clear for Sharp to grab his second.

Not surprisingly the Bulls came quick out of the blocks at the restart, and two quickfire scores threw the game back into the melting pot.

Firstly a pass from Iestyn Harris gave Simon Finnigan a clear run to the line, and moments later David Solomona muscled out of a tackle to release Semi Tadulala to cross.

The Bulls had their tails up, and they clawed further back when a Harris kick through was pounced on by Ben Jeffries to reduce the deficit to one score.

The comeback was complete when after a wave of attacks, Andy Lynch burrowed over at the posts.

But just as all seemed lost for the hosts, Rikki Sheriffe, Tony Clubb and Sharp crossed in the dying minutes.