Eli Manning Leads New York Giants To Victory Over Tom Brady's New ...

New York Giants have beaten New England in the Super Bowl for the second time in four years, hanging on to win 21-17 in a finale that went down to the wire.

Giants running back Ahmad Bradshaw rushed six yards for the deciding touchdown with 57 seconds to play in Indianapolis, but New York had to endure one final drive from Tom Brady.

Patriots quarterback Brady, a two-time Super Bowl MVP, had the opportunity to claim the Vince Lombardi Trophy with a Hail Mary attempt on the final play of the day, but his receivers couldn't pull down his pass and tight end Rob Gronkowski was unable to catch the tipped ball with a despairing dive.

Giants quarterback Eli Manning was named Super Bowl MVP for the second time, having also claimed the award in New York's equally dramatic victory in 2008 that cruelled the Patriots' attempt for the first perfect 19-0 season in NFL history.

New England led by two points with 3min 46 sec to play, with the ball on the Giants' 12-yard line, but Manning engineered an 88-yard drive to claim the lead, for the first time in the second half, with 1min 4sec to go.

New England took over needing a touchdown in the dying seconds, but Bradywho had already set records in the game for consecutive completions and completions in a row at the start of as Super Bowl, could not pull off a miracle.

Brady made two late throws to reach midfield, including hitting Deion Branch at 4&10 to keep alive the drive, but he could not conjure the final miracle.

"It just feels god to win a Super Bowl no matter where you are or what stadium it is," Manning said after completing 30 of 40 passes for 296 yards and a touchdown.

"At half-time, I said we can play better than this," Giants coach Tom Coughlin said, noting that his dominated trailed at the interval despite dominating the first quarter and much of the second.

"They agreed.

"We came out energised in the second half, and the rest is history."

How do you rate Super Bowl XLVI as a game? Do you know consider Eli manning better than his brother? And how do you rate Tom Brady given he has now lost two Super Bowl deciders to the Giants?

New York opened the scoring with a safety after six minutes, awarded after Brady was penalised for intentional grounding while standing in the end zone on New England's first offensive play.

The penalty was the first of two that damaged the Patriots' hopes.

New England's Sterling Moore forced a fumble from Giants receiver Victor Cruz and the Patriots recovered on the ensuing New York possessions, but the play was reversed after New England were penalised for having had too many men on the field.

Manning threw a two-yard touchdown pass to Cruz two plays later, and the Giants led 9-0.

New England reduced the deficit with a 29-yard field goal from Stephen Gostkowski 72 seconds into the second quarter, and the Patriots claimed the lead, 10-9, when Brady threw a four-yard touchdown pass to Danny Woodhead with eight seconds to play in the second quarter.

The score capped a 96-yard drive.

Brady engineered another touchdown drive 3min 40sec into the third quarter, hitting tight end Aaron Hernandez with a 12-yard pass to cap a 79-yard charge.

New England led 17-9, before New York reduced the deficit to 17-15 entering the final quarter through two field goals from Lawrence Tynes.

Manning now has two Super Bowl rings and two MVP awards to top his Hall of Fame-bound brother Peyton in both categories.

The Giants have won the Super Bowl four times, having previously lifted the Vince Lombardi Trophy in 1987, 1991 and 2010.