HUDDERSFIELD Giants just failed to secure a first League double over Leeds in 51 years with this 31-24 loss at the Galpharm.

But even in defeat there was enough to suggest all may not be lost for the Giants when the play-offs get under way this week.

Clearly, coach Nathan Brown’s men are going to have to play much better if they are to get anything from Friday’s qualifying semi-final at Warrington Wolves.

Yet if they are to continue to build on the vast majority of what they did against the in-form and mightily-impressive Rhinos – and get a fair crack of the whip from the match officials! – then the Giants’ season could remain very much alive for several more weeks to come.

Compared to the way they had been playing over the past six weeks, this was another step up, with the key combinations again looking far more comfortable now all the chief playmakers have returned from injury.

And who knows what the Giants could have done had they not made a relatively sluggish start against the Rhinos.

In the opening stages, it was all Leeds as the Giants failed to get into their stride.

Only tremendous goalline defence prevented the visitors from taking the lead inside the first two minutes after they had initially gained possession from their kick-off and then forced the Giants to defend back-to-back sets.

But with the Rhinos continuing to enjoy the lion’s share of possession on the back of a 4-0 penalty count, the Challenge Cup finalists eventually took the lead in the 17th minute when Zac Hardaker crashed over in the corner for Kevin Sinfield to add the touchline conversion.

And within two minutes they had struck again, with Brent Webb backing up some excellent midfield work from Ryan Bailey and Jamie Jones-Buchanan.

Sinfield again added the extras, and at 12-0 it was looking ominous for the hosts.

Fortunately, however, that second score acted as the perfect wake-up call as the Giants went on to dominate the rest of the half.

They struck for the first time after 23 minutes when, on the back of being awarded their first penalty, the ball was whipped to the right for Kevin Brown and Leroy Cudjoe to feed Michael Lawrence to finish strongly from 20m out.

Danny Brough slotted over the conversion from the touchline, and the balance of power had started to swing dramatically – a fact underlined just two minutes later as the Giants levelled the scores with a try of real quality.

Keeping the ball alive on the sixth tackle on the half-way line, Scott Grix’s long pass released Cudjoe who in turn fed Lee Gilmour to make extra ground before slipping the pass to the supporting Luke Robinson to step beyond the covering Ryan Hall to dive over.

And two minutes before the break, Robinson turned provider as he refused to take the tackle and waited for Larne Patrick to run onto the ball at break-neck speed and charge over for converted try No3 to make it 18-12 at the interval.

But within a minute of the restart, the lead was down to two in frustrating circumstances.

Although Danny McGuire appeared to have knocked-on, Leeds got away with it and took full advantage.as a smart move enabled Hall to dive over in the corner.

Both sides then had their chances to strike for a fourth time, with Robinson held up over the line and Graeme Horne pulling off a second one-on-one try-saving tackle to deny the Rhinos.

Yet it wasn’t until the 58th minute before the next points were added as Sinfield slotted over a straightforward penalty for the markers not being square.

Brough followed suit for a similar offence moments later to nudge the Giants back ahead before a moment of some controversy in the 63rd minute.

With the Giants stretched, the ball was worked out to the right for Carl Ablett to dive over.

He appeared to drop the ball in an attempt to score, but it was ruled ‘play on’ and Hall gratefully accepted the gift to grab his second try, converted by Sinfield, to give the visitors the lead for a second time.

To make matters worse, Cudjoe had to be helped off the field with a knee injury with 10 minutes remaining, and with one of the Giants’ main strike weapons gone, the task became greater.

And as the in-form centre was being taken for treatment, Leeds took advantage of another spilled ball and within seconds, Sinfield released Jones-Buchanan to finish under the posts.

Jermaine McGillvary did reduce the deficit to six points in the 78th minute when he collected out wide and handed off Sinfield to touch down in the corner, with Brough off course with his attempted touchline conversion in double-quick time.

But it was always going to be too little too late, even though McGillvary was denied the chance of a long-range score a minute later when the pass he received from Horne was adjudged forward.

That was the last of many decisions from referee Child that incensed the home fans, and Sinfield then rubbed salt into the Giants' wounds by landing a drop goal on the hooter to send Huddersfield to just their second home defeat of the season.