"There's nothing like a little bit of pressure" - Those were Paul Deacon's words as he lined up the match-winning conversion against Wigan that might just have turned the Bulls' season around.

The Wigan-born scrum half makes his 200th senior appearance in Bradford colours against Hull tonight but, in his previous 199, none have thrown up a more testing scenario than that crucial angled conversion attempt against the Warriors in round three.

With the Bulls reeling from the shock of dropping their opening two games against Wakefield and Widnes, Deacon knew his boot was all that separated the club from the dreaded 'crisis' tag.

"Karl Pryce was walking on with the kicking cone and I just smiled at him and said 'there's nothing like a bit of pressure'," said Deacon.

"He had a bit of a giggle and I had a bit of a giggle and that sort of took the pressure off a bit.

"But that was the first time I've had to kick a goal to win a game where if I missed we would have lost.

"I had another kick to win a game against Wigan in 2001 but we were drawing at the time, so it was a bit different.

"When you are growing up you dream of being in that position. It was quite a good feeling to kick it. I don't think I recognised at the time how important that kick was.

"I think if I had I would probably have missed it. It was one of those situations where you just try to block everything out."

Just as he has done so many times before, Deacon struck the kick sweetly, the ball sailing directly between the uprights to crown one of the most memorable comebacks in Super League history. Since then, the Bulls have looked a different side.

"We got off to a terrible start, we are not hiding from that," admits Deacon.

"We were rubbish in those first two games and it does start to affect your confidence. You start doubting yourselves, asking whether you are good enough. But sport is funny; you get a win like we did against Wigan and then a decent performance against London and everything changes. You start thinking 'we are good enough'. You just sort of kick on."

After their mixed performance against Leigh last Friday, Deacon knows the extent of the Bulls' progression will be fully measured tonight.

"Hull have some great players, they are very enthusiastic and they work hard for each other. We will have our work cut out tonight."