St Helens’ golden point win at Leeds Rhinos will be talked about for years to come

No words of mine can do justice to St Helens’ golden point 13-12 extra-time victory over Leeds Rhinos at spell-bound Headingley on Friday night.

It was a crying shame one team had to leave the famous stadium without a win under their belts after a dramatic encounter which remained in the melting pot until ice-cool half back Lewis Dodd landed a last-gasp one pointer - just as he did when Saints defeated NRL champions Penrith Panthers in the World  Club Challenge in February.

Leeds may feel a little aggrieved by the final result after being forced to reorganise in the opening 40 minutes due to injury and reduced to 12 men with the 78th minute dismissal of James McDonnell for throwing a punch in a frenetic finale.

St Helens half back Jonny Lomax said: "It was an exciting game and I’m worn out."

But he warned:  ‘’We cannot get carried away. We were too loose in certain areas and we need to improve. It’s easy to talk about improving after two points but if we are totally honest we have to be better than that. Neither did we have any respect with  the ball and that showed. We were also  guilty of making too many unforced errors."

Perfectly true, but a catalogue of mistakes by both teams only added to the excitement, tension and unpredictability of the match which will be talked about for years to come.

More importantly, however, is the points which Saints will take in their Magic Weekend clash with the Huddersfield Giants as they push to achieve a record-breaking five Grand Final triumph on the bounce.