A pulsating 22-21 victory allowed the Bulls to seal the Minor Premiership and earn an all-important home qualifying semi-final in the play-offs, when the real quest for Grand Final glory begins.

An electric atmosphere engulfed a huge Odsal crowd for yet another classic encounter between these two fiercest of foes in a match billed as the 'Biggest Game Of All'.

Brian Noble's side emerged victorious for a fourth consecutive time this season and the recurring theme of Bradford derby victories may yet provide further twists and turns in the Finals series.

And while the Challenge Cup Final and last month's Headingley clash were each won by just two points, the margin of victory this time was slimmer still, with just a solitary point separating them at the final whistle.

Leeds travelled to Odsal aiming to cement second spot and were denied a try after only five minutes, when Tevita Vaikona pulled back Francis Cummins as he chased Kevin Sinfield's grubber to the corner.

Video referee Ian Ollerton awarded a penalty for the infringement in what would be the first of several tight decisions.

He was again called into action as Keith Senior, one of the Rhinos' most potent weapons, saw a try ruled out on 11 minutes when Cummins was adjudged to have impeded Vaikona following Sinfield's chip.

That served as a wake-up call to the Bulls, with Paul Deacon taking Jimmy Lowes' pass on the blind side before throwing an intelligent dummy - which fooled everyone - and darting through the gap to touch down at the corner.

A quite brilliant try from a bang in-form player, who last week broke the 1,000 points career total against London.

The classy scrum half goaled his conversion in off the post for 6-0 in front of the massed ranks of Leeds fans, who by the end of the 80 minutes would be sick of the sight of the young Great Britain star.

The rangy Wayne McDonald, who had replaced Matt Adamson for Daryl Powell's side, produced a good cover tackle to stop Deacon, and then powered in himself for Leeds after 26 minutes, from Matt Diskin's pass, to allow the Rhinos to equalise, with influential captain Kevin Sinfield goaling for 6-6.

However, the Bulls continued with their strong go-forward game, with Paul Anderson and Joe Vagana again prominent, and Gary Connolly forced Lowes back before Deacon added a penalty after Cummins' off-the-ball tackle on Vaikona for 8-6.

Stuart Reardon, in inspirational form of late and surely set to be awarded with the Young Player of the Year Award, again gave an awesome display at full-back as his mature handling, tackling and running once again belied his tender years.

He produced a brilliant cover tackle on Senior, who had burst through from deep inside his own half to surge past three Bulls players before Reardon hauled down the Rhinos centre in fine style.

Leeds had plenty of pressure during the opening half and so it was that Willie Poching became the third player to have a try ruled out on the stroke of half time, when he lost the ball attempting to ground through a pack of Bulls players.

Controversy reigned, and at times the Bulls players were as equally frustrated as some of the Leeds players at the referee's calls.

The second half began and the Bulls again punished Leeds and showed how at this level, when chances come, you must take them, as Deacon's clever reverse pass allowed Reardon to burst through a gap and score under the posts.

The Bulls then began to gain the ascendancy with Vaikona and Lesley Vainikolo potent threats. But Powell's side remained highly spirited and again they fell foul of the video referee's decision when Cummins was denied after being held up over the line by Danny Gartner's crucial tackle.

On 52 minutes, however, Reardon managed to stop Rob Burrow a yard short under the posts, but Poching caught the loose ball and scored the try, with Sinfield goaling to make it 14-12.

Leeds then levelled the scores at 14-14 with a penalty on 57 minutes when Vagana was ruled to have stripped the ball from Barrie McDermott. It seemed harsh and Lowes was sin-binned for his protests to referee Ganson, much to the delight of the Leeds fans.

Lowes, who bid farewell to the Odsal faithful at the final whistle before retiring at the end of the season, said: "No way in this world was it a penalty. There was some crucial decisions that wound both sides up and I got sin-binned for offering my opinion to him."

Leeds then began to regain the ascendancy, as Sinfield put them in front on the hour with a drop goal. Deacon then did likewise with a drop goal which levelled the scores at 15-15 as the tension became palpable.

Lowes, back on the field, grubbered for the brilliant Vainikolo to charge through and dive to touch down, with Deacon goaling to give the Bulls a 21-15 lead.

Leeds again showed great character to level matters, as the inspirational Sinfield ducked over and goaled to level the scores at 21-21.

This was gripping stuff and not for the faint-hearted but with two minutes remaining, the awe-inspiring Deacon grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck once more and blasted over his second drop goal to send Odsal into ecstasy.