IT is 20 years since Saints backed up their first Challenge Cup win in two decades with a 32-22 victory over Bradford beneath the old Twin Towers.

It was the first time in the club’s history that they had won consecutive cups – a feat they would repeat next from 2006-08.

Coming so soon after the rollercoaster ride that was the Ultimate Comeback final, the 1997 Wembley showpiece is often overlooked.

But it was nonetheless a fine final, with Saints even more emphatic and clinical with their victory in what was the sport's centenary final.

That, in itself, was no mean feat given that the Bulls went on to run away with the Super League title that year.

Stand off Tommy Martyn, who won the Lance Todd Trophy, grabbed Saints’ opening two tries courtesy of two smartly executed kicks from skipper Bobbie Goulding.

Danny Peacock and ex-Saint Paul Loughlin had replied for the Bulls and the scores were level at 10-10 until the last minute of the first half.

Loose forward Karle Hammond squeezed past a handful of Bulls defenders on the line to give Saints a 16-10 lead and they took control in the second half.

Chris Joynt collected Martyn’s reverse pass and Anthony Sullivan raced on to Goulding’s deep kick.

A Goulding penalty gave Saints a 20-point cushion on 62 minutes.

Late scores from Glen Tomlinson and Jimmy Lowes merely added respectability, but another Goulding penalty had already given them extra security.

Saints had got to Wembley that year without skipper Goulding, who had been handed a six-match ban after his challenge on Wigan’s Neil Cowie in the opening round.

So Goulding invited Joynt, who had stepped up in his absence, to climb the steps first to collect the trophy.

It was the second time Saints had beaten their early summer era nemesis in the cup final.

They went on to do it again in 2001; also toppling the Bulls at Old Trafford on 1999 and 2002.

But that game was a sort of swansong for a good crop of that 1996-97 contingent who had delivered Saints' early Super League era success - and within a year coach Shaun McRae was joining them out of Knowsley Road.

But those boys of summer will always have a special place in the hearts of Saints fans who had waited so long, during the years of Wigan dominance, for success.

Saints: Prescott; Arnold, Haigh, Newlove, Sullivan; Martyn, Goulding; Perelini, Cunningham, O'Neill, Joynt, McVey, Hammond. Subs: Pickavance, Matautia, Northey, Morley.