Carl Ablett and Danny McGuire touched down in the final quarter to hand Leeds the derby honours and halt the reigning engage Super League champions' recent slide with a 28-18 victory over derby rivals Bradford.

The Rhinos went into the game having lost their previous two matches and five of their last eight outings, to raise serious question marks over their ability to defend their crown.

Bitter rivals Bradford did them no favours by edging 18-16 shortly after the break after former Leeds favourite Iestyn Harris converted his side's third try of the evening.

But the Rhinos dug deep and Ablett - a forward who was forced to play at centre due to injuries - touched down Matt Diskin's neat grubber on the hour mark to edge his side ahead.

Mercurial stand-off McGuire added a fifth try in the closing stages to send a packed Headingley Carnegie into raptures as Leeds celebrated their fourth victory of the season against their most bitter rivals.

It was the perfect antidote to their recent struggles but was not without controversy.

Indeed, the game exploded into life in the fifth minute when Rhinos scrum-half Rob Burrow and Bradford full-back Michael Platt were shown yellow cards for fighting.

Platt paid the price for aiming a headbutt but Burrow appeared unlucky to be sent from the field with blood pouring from his face after becoming involved in the subsequent melee.

Leeds wing Scott Donald was also forced off through injury in the opening stages and Bradford - themselves hampered by injury - exploited the uncertainty in the home ranks by carving out a delightful score in the seventh minute.

It came courtesy of centre Paul Sykes, who collected Ben Jeffries' outrageous reverse offload to touch down in the right corner and cap a fine move which saw the ball pass through five pairs of hands.

Harris - a hate figure at Headingley following his decision to join the Bulls in 2004 rather than return to Leeds after an ill-fated spell in rugby union - converted from close to the touchline.

Yet Leeds responded in style with tries from young replacements Jordan Tansey, Luke Burgess and Nick Scruton.

They claimed their first score in the 15th minute when Tansey took an exquisite long offload from Webb and dived over the line in the left corner.

Kevin Sinfield could not convert but he added the extras to a fine counter-attacking score from Burgess five minutes later.

Hooker Diskin embarked on a fine run from halfway and showed intelligence to send the supporting Burgess clear from 20 metres with an excellent offload that left Platt stranded.

Leeds began to dominate and former Bradford favourite Jamie Peacock belied his huge frame to produce a delicate offload to send Scruton over the line from close range in the 31st minute.

Sinfield converted but Bradford remained firmly in contention at the break after centre James Evans squeezed over in the left corner for a try which Harris again converted with aplomb.

The Bulls were quickest off the mark again in the second half when Harris' high bomb caused panic in the Leeds rearguard.

Evans did well to palm the ball back into the path on the onrushing replacement Wayne Godwin, who grounded under the posts and Harris converted with ease after video referee Ian Smith verified the score.

But Leeds were not to be denied and on the hour mark they claimed victory when Ablett was the quickest to a clever kick from Diskin and the battle-weary Burrow added the extras to put his side home and dry.

McGuire applied the coup de grace with two minutes with Leeds' fifth try from close range and Sinfield converted.