Tim Sheens was at a loss to explain just how his Wests Tigers beat Cronulla yesterday. Fortunately, “filthy” Sharks captain Paul Gallen was soon on hand to enlighten the Tigers coach.

“We beat ourselves,” said a downcast Gallen after his Sharks somehow blew a wealth of scoring opportunities in the first half to lose 20-16 yesterday, their second straight NRL defeat at Toyota Park and ninth in a row against the Tigers.

“I’m just filthy.

“We’re a good team and … I think the three games we’ve lost I don’t think the other team’s played better than us.

“We just killed ourselves. It was something I thought we learned from last year, but today and last week it showed we’ve fallen back a little bit.”

The Tigers were woeful in the opening 30 minutes despite the return of Benji Marshall from a five-week knee injury layoff.

Yet somehow they managed to hold the misfiring Sharks to just one try before scoring two themselves in the final eight minutes to claim a surprise 8-6 halftime lead.

The Sharks came back to hit the lead 16-14 with 12 minutes to go after a Luke Covell penalty goal.

But just when the Sharks appeared set to claim their fifth win of the season by six points or less, Tigers centre Chris Lawrence touched down a tidy Mathew Head grubber for his second try of the match to seal victory in the 76th minute.

“I don’t know how we won that game to be quite honest,” said a bemused, but delighted, Sheens.

“We won it, lost it, did some silly things. Everything that could happen, did happen. The ball hit the crossbar and bounced back.

“We hit the upright twice (from conversions). You name it, it happened.

“But the guys showed courage, and at the end of the day winning ugly is still winning isn’t it?

“It’s still two points and they’re two vital points, particularly in back-to-back games for us.

“Last year we would have lost these games, so for us this was probably back to ’05 (when the Tigers won the premiership).”

Fullback Brett Hodgson, despite missing two conversions to ruin his season record of 20-straight, starred for the Tigers, sending Lawrence over for his first try to give the visitors the halftime lead before scoring himself in the 54th minute to again put the visitors in front 14-8.

Brett Seymour levelled when he touched down seven minutes later.

But despite Covell’s goalkicking, the Sharks paid dearly for their continued inability to convert pressure into points.

Despite sitting eighth on the ladder with four wins, the Sharks have scored just 103 points in seven games, with cellar dwellers Souths the only team with a worse attacking record.

After seeming to have put to bed their inability to win tight games – last year they lost eight by six points or less – the Sharks have now lost two close ones – by four yesterday and in golden-point extra time against Penrith last week.

Sheens’ main concern was his team’s slow start, with today’s performance coming a week after the Tigers had spotted Souths a 10-point advantage before running down the Bunnies.

“Like last week, we just didn’t start well, so it’s a concern,” Sheens said.

“I don’t want to start poorly against the Broncos next week I can tell you.”

© AAP 2012

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