Warrington 20, Bradford Bulls 24: If your team-mate performs a stupendous piece of brilliance to keep the ball in play, it is rare that you harangue a touch judge to persuade him it actually had gone out.

But that was the rare sight on display at a sun-drenched Wilderspool as the Wolves manfully tried to persuade that Dean Gaskell had failed to keep the ball active.

Unfortunately for Warrington, the youngster had indeed confounded the laws of physics to somehow stop a Paul Deacon 40-20 from leaving the field.

With the scores tied, he was desperate to prevent a Bulls scrum and somehow his full-length dive managed to keep the ball in play even when he himself landed off the pitch.

Unfortunately for him, and for every home fan in the noisy and dilapidated ground, he succeeded in his mission but only by knocking the ball back into his own in-goal area.

And with no full back to be seen, the Bulls' Scott Naylor was on hand to touch down and snatch victory for Bradford after what had been a ding-dong battle.

The Zoo, as it is known, has not been a happy hunting ground for the Bulls over the years, and on the final game Brian Noble's men are to play here before Warrington move to a new stadium they were grateful to receive some long-awaited luck.

And they got it to seal their comeback, their third recovery in the afternoon, and cement second-spot in Super League.

With four regular starters out, and only an average performance under their belts from the previous week, it was never going to be vintage Bulls.

It was another error-strewn afternoon for Noble's troops but once again they triumphed without hitting top gear until the final four minutes - a sure sign of a championship-winning side.

The absence of the rested Jimmy Lowes and Lesley Vainikolo, along with long-term victims Stuart Fielden and Mick Withers, was compounded by a troubled afternoon with the boot for Paul Deacon.

His day began by kicking the ball straight into touch and only really picked up in the final moments.

Wolves, inspired by Lancashire coach Paul Cullen, have been punching above their weight at times this season and were looking to do so again against the side that knocked them out of the Challenge Cup.

But they were bombing passes and giving away possession as often as the visitors in a very bitty, and gritty, match.

A Graham Appo penalty gave them the lead but it was the Bulls who crossed the line first when an angled Deacon kick found Danny Gartner ready to dive on the ball.

They nearly relinquished their advantage four minutes later but Karl Pratt, replacing the Volcano on the wing, somehow pulled off a superb try-saving tackle, bundling Rob Smyth into touch when it looked a certain try.

Unfortunately Pratt could not do the same two minutes later when Brent Grose side-stepped him to set up Smyth's eventual score unopposed in the corner as the Wolves levelled things up.

It was a mostly scrappy affair with the odd moment of brilliance from Robbie Paul, particularly when escaping from his in-goal area under pressure, and the odd big hit from Richard Moore.

Cheered on by a vociferous home crowd, who could clearly smell a victory against the prize Bulls, Appo knocked over a penalty before bagging a try himself just before the break. Nathan Wood broke through a Jamie Peacock tackle in the middle of the park before sending in Appo on his inside to score and convert.

This gave the Wolves a half-time cushion of eight points - probably not enough given Warrington were crushed 38-12 by the Bulls when the scores had been level at the break in the season-opener here.

But the second-half onslaught for which the rampaging Bulls have become famous never materialised as Warrington's 'in yer face' brand of tackling was reaping rewards.

Although Robbie Paul scored a captain's try by jinking over after 45 minutes and, after a penalty for offside, things were evened up, somehow the Bulls couldn't hit top gear.

Aaron Smith could one day be the Bulls' first-choice hooker judging by his defence, but on the attack he lacked some of the savvy of Lowes, not surprising in only his second start, and the Bulls missed that go-forward so often provided by the veteran.

And so it was that Warrington took the lead.

The best efforts at stalwart defence by Bradford failed and Brent Grose somehow forced his way over to give Warrington a six-point advantage with 27 minutes left.

Appo missed a penalty and two subsequent attempts at drop goals as the home side miserably failed to get more than a score ahead.

Against a side like Bradford that is always going to be risky and so the inevitable comeback came to pass.

Noble's men slowly but surely began to press for field position and the screw began turning on the Wolves' defence.

With four minutes to play they were caught offside and Paul put in a superb swerving kick for position to leave the Bulls with possession just ten metres out.

Two tackles later and Mike Forshaw was squirming over from dummy half to bag the much-needed score.

This left Deacon, who was in need of new stitches in a chin wound as his catalogue of head injuries continues, with a tough kick to level the scores.

From no more than ten metres inside the touchline he hoisted a trademark effort between the posts with the same ease and accuracy he had been driving down the fairways at last week's club golf day.

With the scores level, Bradford decided to use a 40-20 set to finish off the Wolves but Gaskell kept it in play and Naylor finished it off - a fitting way to cap his 250th career game and a satisfying way for the Bulls to close the book on Wilderspool.