Leading 30-6 courtesy of a first-half hat-trick by David Solomona and with little more than 25 minutes remaining, Bradford looked to have taken an imposing step nearer the grand final at the expense of opponents who had offered little threat.

Instead, the Odsal faithful watched on in incredulous silence as Wigan drew level with a hat-trick of tries of their own from winger Mark Calderwood and then snatched the unlikeliest of wins courtesy of a 76th-minute drop-goal by Pat Richards. The sounding of the final hooter left Bradford devastated and wondering where it had all gone wrong after they had played with such authority for almost an hour to build what should have been a winning lead.

As expected, the Warriors posed most danger each time Trent Barrett joined the fray but Bradford did a sterling job in suffocating his threat before the break when the Australian stand-off found himself crowded out at nearly every turn.

Barrett did show his class to set up Wigan's only try of the first half on 27 minutes when his long, raking pass out to the left wing released David Vaealiki for the supporting Thomas Leuluai to score. Richards converted to put Wigan six points adrift of the Bulls who produced the perfect response to add two more tries of the their own inside the next five minutes.

Bradford had opened the scoring with Solomona's first try which came from a speculative pass to Andy Lynch from Newton.

The prop could not hide his surprise at receiving the ball 25 metres out but had the presence of mind – and the sense of purpose – to draw in two tacklers before slipping the ball to Solomona, who was in no mood to be stopped.

The Bulls extended their lead by capitalising on the vulnerability under the high ball of Calderwood, the former Leeds winger who fumbled two testing kicks by Harris, the second under considerable pressure from Tame Tupou who took full advantage to claim his try.

Leuluai's score gave Wigan some much-needed hope but their optimism faded following an error by Barrett, whose clearance kick 40 metres from his own line sailed straight into touch. From the resultant scrum Bradford went close through Newton, who was held just short of the line by a desperate tackle from Stuart Fielden, but there was no stopping Solomona as he charged over from acting half.

Micky Higham tries to prevent him from grounding the ball but the video referee gave Solomona the benefit of the doubt and awarded the try.

If they were not before, Wigan were by now acutely aware of Solomona's threat but the visitors were still powerless to prevent him from completing his hat-trick three minutes later when the 29-year-old burst on to a pass by Harris and reached out a long arm in a tackle from
Barrett to slap the ball over the line.

Wigan went close following the restart when a low kick to the corner by Leuluai was overrun by both Tupou and Calderwood, a let-off which provoked a decisive reaction from a reprieved Bradford who swept upfield to extend their lead with a try by Harris.

It was set up by a powerful burst from Glenn Morrison, who found Ben Harris on his shoulder for the centre to turn the ball inside for his namesake to score by the posts.

Harris converted his own try and added a penalty after he was felled by a sickening high tackle by Sean O'Loughlin, a goal which opened up a 24-point lead which ought to have been enough to secure a comfortable passage into the next round.

Wigan, though, had other ideas and, aided by some sloppy defence from the hosts they embarked on their amazing fightback to draw level with four converted tries.

Calderwood scored the first two with polished finishes to simple handling moves down the right, Harrison Hansen grabbed the third after Ben Harris had conceded a penalty following an error by Marcus St Hilaire and Calderwood raced 75 metres for his hat-trick by intercepting a needless pass by Hape.

Richards added all four conversions before coolly kicking the winning drop-goal in the 76th minute to complete a win which will long live in play-off folklore.


Bradford Bulls: Platt; St Hilaire, B Harris, Hape, Tupou; Morrison, I Harris; Vagana, Newton, Lynch, McKenna, Solomona, Burgess. Substitutes: Cook, McAvoy, Feather, Henderson.

Wigan Warriors: Richards; Calderwood, Bailey, Vaealiki, Colbon; Barrett, Leuluai; Fielden, Millard, Paleaasina, Hansen, Fletcher, O'Loughlin. Substitutes: Higham, Hock, Goulding, Prescott.

Referee: S Ganson (St Helens).