TWENTY years ago today at Wembley was a landmark date in the history of the St Helens club.

Historically Saints’ Challenge Cup victory over Bradford Bulls was arguably one of the important triumphs in the club’s history, announcing as it did Saints’ return to the big stage in such a dramatic fashion.

In doing so they wiped away two decades of false dawns, heartache and the days of being nearly men.

It had been a long time coming – an eternity for fans of a certain generation who prior to that tumultuous day beneath the Twin Towers needed a history lesson for Saints’ previous Wembley triumph.

The road to 1996 been a rocky one, but those fans who had witnessed some spirited but ultimately outclassed performances kept the faith particularly throughout that period of Wigan dominance from the mid 80s onwards.

Just ahead of Super League’s dawn we saw a twinkling of some home grown starlets, complemented by seasoned quality professionals in the peak of their powers.

And with Wigan surprisingly knocked out of the cup by Salford that season there was a feeling of now or never.

Saints marched in at Wembley on April 27 where Bullmania was in full flow.

What followed was the most spectacular of rugby league rollercoaster rides with two early Steve Prescott tries soon being cancelled out by the Bulls.

With 56 minutes on the clock the scoreboard read Bradford Bulls 26 St Helens 12 – and the ghosts of Noonan’s dropped pass of 1978, Elia’s no-try of 1987 and the 27-0 debacle of 1989 were returning to haunt the Empire Stadium again.

For a few moments the Saints hordes – the old guard and the newfound followers - looked at each other with shocked faces and sunken hearts.

It seemed a lost cause – no team had ever overhauled such a deficit, but cometh the hour cometh the man.

Skipper Bobbie Goulding launched a bomb which Bulls full back Nathan Graham allowed to bounce….into the arms of supporting Cunningham who sprung up to collect. The comeback was on – and Goulding did not deviate from the blueprint with similar pin-point bombs from the confident number seven yielding scores for Simon Booth and Ian Pickavance.

Saints were in front and although Arnold and Robbie Paul swapped tries – Apollo Perelini settled it.

Saints had produced the Ultimate Comeback and won their first Challenge Cup for 20 years.

And that victory was the launchpad for the success that followed, starting with the inaugural Super League crown, beating Wigan into second place.