Bradford Bulls coach Matthew Elliott is happy with the appointment of Russell Smith as referee for the play-off showdown at St Helens - despite criticising Smith's role in the Bulls' defeat at Wigan last month.

The Castleford-based official caused a storm in the Bradford camp by controversially sin-binning full-back Stuart Spruce and centre Scott Naylor in the final five minutes as the Warriors staged a dramatic comeback to snatch a 20-19 victory in the last second.

The defeat cost the Bulls the chance of finishing top of the table and resulted in a clash between an angry Elliott and the Rugby Football League's Director of Rugby Greg McCallum in the main stand at the JJB Stadium.

The pressure is sure to be on Smith again in what promises to be another fiery encounter tonight, but Elliott does not regard the appointment as a potential problem.

"It's a game with a lot at stake, but Russell Smith deserves to be the referee," said Elliott. "He has been the form referee in the competition recently and I am pleased with the appointment."

The Bulls could afford to lose tonight and still reach the Grand Final at Old Trafford on Saturday, October 14, but Elliott says confidently: "We will be taking the shortest route and that means beating St Helens and Wigan in the next week.

"At this stage in the season you are preparing to win. At other times of the year you can look at positive things in a performance, in victory and defeat. But tonight the real business starts and my mentality is solely focused on dealing with victory.

"Over the last fortnight since the Leeds game we have been focusing on producing players that are fresh and ready for semi-final footie."

Elliott will not reveal his hand until just before kick-off in a bid to keep opposite number Ian Millward guessing.

"We do have a couple of little knocks I am going to make some assessments on today but we look like having our strongest squad available.

"I did have a decision to make at scrum half and it was an extremely tough one as both Paul Deacon and Robbie Paul have been major contributors all year. I have made the decision but I am going to reserve the right not to make it public."

Millward admits he was taken aback by the manner of his side's 42-4 defeat by Wigan last week.

"It's like falling off a horse. You don't know if there is any damage until you climb back on," he said.

Bulls: (probable) Spruce; Vaikona, Naylor, Withers, Pryce; H Paul, Deacon; McDermott, Lowes, Fielden, Forshaw, Peacock, Mackay. Subs: (from) R Paul, McAvoy, Brooker Anderson, Boyle, Smith.

St Helens: Wellens; Hoppe, Iro, Newlove, Sullivan; Martyn, Long; Perelini, Cunningham, O'Neill, Joynt, Tuilagi, Sculthorpe. Subs: (from) Hall, West, Jonkers, Stankevitch.