Manly’s second-half woes have returned at Brookvale Oval with a Preston Campbell-inspired Gold Coast Titans coming from behind to win 24-22 in an enthralling Monday night NRL clash.
The Sea Eagles, who squandered winning positions against Parramatta and Wests Tigers earlier this season, relinquished a 22-12 lead with late tries from Campbell and Anthony Laffranchi.
The home side dominated for large spells but were unable to kill off the gallant Titans who ended Manly’s run of four successive victories.
Two tries from Steve Matai and impressive displays from young playmakers Kieran Foran and Trent Hodkinson and a barnstorming Anthony Watmough, saw the hosts dominate much of the match after going 6-0 down in the opening minute.
The game burst into life from the very first set with the Titans taking the lead through Kevin Gordon in remarkable circumstances.
From the kick-off, Anthony Watmough put Manly in tremendous field position with a superb 50-metre run.
But just when the Sea Eagles looked set to score, Glenn Stewart spilled the ball and Gordon sprinted away to score after being released by Greg Bird.
Manly hit back on seven minutes when halfback Hodkinson reacted quickest to touch the ball down after Foran’s high kick was knocked back into his path by Watmough with Jamie Lyon adding the extras.
Hodkinson turned provider to set up the Sea Eagles’ second try, as the Titans once again failed to deal with the high ball.
William Zillman folded under pressure from a sea of Manly bodies, and Steve Matai barged his way over.
The hosts ran in their third try on the 27th minute when fullback Ben Farrar raced through a huge gap on the left-hand side of the Titans’ defence.
The vocal home crowd was silenced five minutes before the break when Foran’s poor kick deep inside Gold Coast territory deflected into the hands of Campbell, who set up Gordon for his second try and a 16-12 deficit at the break.
The Titans started the second half stronger, but a well-worked try scored by Matai extended Manly’s lead and looked to have knocked the stuffing out of the visitors.
However, a risky pass from Titans hooker Nathan Friend found Campbell, who danced through to score under the posts in the 70th minute to give his side hope at 22-18.
And with six minutes remaining, Laffranchi, who’d been put on report in the first-half for a high tackle on Matt Ballin, barged over in the far right corner with Campbell’s conversion sealing the win.
Titans coach John Cartwright admitted his side had some luck on their side to win the game, but felt Manly were there for taking late in the game.
“It was a game of luck I suppose, and it took a bit of luck for a number of tries, but I never thought we were out of it, and I thought they looked a bit lethargic after beating Melbourne last week,” he said.
Cartwright was also full of praise for Campbell, who kept his nerve to kick the crucial conversion to complete a perfect night with the boot in addition to the match-turning try.
“He was amazing, you could get a camera and follow him the whole game and show it to kids learning the game and say ‘that’s how you play footy,'” Cartwright said.
Manly coach Des Hasler said he had no problems with a late decision from referee Paul Holland to rule that Farrar lost the ball, when it looked as if it had been stripped from his grasp by Friend.
The decision set the platform for the match-winning try, but Hasler agreed the decision was the right one.
“It was lost, but they didn’t get into the game until the 73rd minute and they won the game,” Hasler said.
“It was a game we should never have let go, we had plenty of opportunity and plenty of possession.
“We did a couple of uncharacteristic things and went away from what has been working for us and paid the penalty.”
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