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The Canterbury Bulldogs have come away with a hard-fought victory in Golden Point over the Gold Coast Titans, with Josh Reynolds stepping up to deliver the field goal in the 84th minute at ANZ Stadium.
After a match which went back and forth, with neither team able to assert their dominance for long periods, and the weather playing its part it would be the Titans who managed to come home strongly and tie the game.
REPORT: REYNOLDS STARS IN GOLDEN POINT
After a terrible last ten minutes, with neither team able to score it went to Golden Point and Reynolds stepped up to deliver the field goal.
It came after a pretty strong game from Reynolds, where he came up with two try assists and ran the ball for over 100 metres looking fairly dangerous.
At the same time though, it must be noted the Bulldogs halves lacked any real consistency. Moses Mbye’s kicking game was a bit of a worry, and there were plenty of times where options had to be questioned.
The Bulldogs forwards, led by Aiden Tolman, James Graham and David Klemmer off the bench won the battle up the middle though. In a game that was affected by rain, it was a necessary battle to win but they would have been very disappointed to let the Titans back into the game.
The Bulldogs started the game at a cracking pace, occupying position on the Titans line and looking for all money like they would open the scoring. Instead they fumbled and bumbled their way through the opening eight or nine minutes, unable to execute their plays.
With the Titans getting possession back and picking up a penalty they went the length of the field before Cameron Cullen took on the line and threw a flat ball to his left for Zeb Taia. At full speed and with half a hole in the line, no one was stopping him as he crashed over for the first try.
It didn’t take long for the Bulldogs to answer back as Curtis Rona scored off a Tony Williams pass that was simply flicked on by Josh Morris.
With the conversion failing to go over, the Bulldogs continued to dominate proceedings in the middle of the ground before Josh Reynolds cut out everyone with a long pass to the right and Sam Perrett went over. It wasn’t without fault though, as he had to dive for the pass.
The Titans tied things up with a penalty goal, before the Bulldogs landed a blown just six minutes from halftime with William Hopoate going over off a long-range effort. Moses Mbye broke the line with a dummy from a Tony Williams pass, and then liked with Hopoate about 20 metres out.
At half time, the Bulldogs were up 14-8.
It didn’t take long for Canterbury to re-assume their dominance after the break, with the forwards controlling proceedings and allowing the pressure to mount.
The Bulldogs first, and indeed only try of the second half came to Josh Jackson, who crashed over with some soft defence – but an awesome flat ball from Josh Reynolds who had taken on the line.
With a 12 point lead, there is no way it should have been squandered in the final 20 minutes, but a breakdown and calamity of errors saw the Titans score two tries in eight minutes to tie up the game.
The first of those was for David Mead in the 62nd minute with Bird sweeping left to the line and throwing a cut out ball.
The second of those tries – that tied off the game came with Canterbury right on the attack. Moses Mbye came up with a chip kick across the ground, which was then batted back. Josh Hoffman was the only one who read it and charged onto it, running the length of the field.
The last 10 minutes would have been funny if it wasn’t painful to watch. The Bulldogs couldn’t get out of their own end until the very last minute, and the Titans looked like amateurs trying to put a field goal over.
On that last set for the Bulldogs, they went the length of the field, then had a field goal attempt charged down by Ryan James. Josh Morris went back to the 40 metre line to recover the ball and decided to take a shot himself with it missing.
Heading into Golden Point, it was questionable either team looked like kicking one. The first set from the Titans saw them put in a percentage kick down the ground.
Canterbury’s first set then ended with an accidental offside as Mbye put a field goal shot into the back of Graham before Kieran Moseley had a brain snap and put a long range grubber kick in.
The Bulldogs were able to roll up field, and with Reynolds finally getting a shot he wasn’t missing, slotting it over from about 30 metres out.
In the end, not a great performance from either team, but the Bulldogs escape with the victory.
Score
Canterbury Bulldogs 21
Gold Coast Titans 20
The Canterbury Bulldogs will be looking to get back to their best when they take on the average, but above expectations Gold Coast Titans. Join The Roar for live scores and coverage from 3pm (AEST).
There can be no questions asked that the Bulldogs have had a mostly positive start to the season – but there will be a part of them that would have been expecting better. Four wins from the first seven rounds is not bad, but Canterbury have been a little inconsistent.
From the heights of massive victories, like on Good Friday over the South Sydney Rabbitohs to the lows of humbling losses like the one in Round 5 against the Canberra Raiders at Belmore – it is consistency the Bulldogs need.
This consistency issue doesn’t fall on the shoulders of one player either – it is a team mentality. However, a good place to start is the hooker position. Craig Garvey was fantastic early in the season, but ever since Michael Lichaa came back from injury their attack has looked a little lost.
The Titans on the other hand have surprised many with an ability to stay in the fight of games, and even win a few. There is no questioning they were among the favourites for the dreaded wooden spoon when the season kicked off, but you have to think that is not so much the case anymore.
After South Sydney suffered a big loss at the hands of the Brisbane Broncos on Friday night, they have moved up into eighth position on the ladder with three wins based on for and against. While their wins haven’t come against teams in the top echelon of the competition, a win is a win and they haven’t been getting blown out badly.
Still improvement is needed. Tyrone Roberts has been fairly quiet so far this season, and needs to get his kicking game going to take the pressure off. Coming off a five-point loss to the St George Illawarra Dragons, but more importantly not winning any of their last three they will be keen to turn things around.
In team news, the Bulldogs add Craig Garvey and Lloyd Perrett to the bench, while for the Titans Daniel Mortimer is out – replaced by Nathan Friend at hooker with Kierran Moseley added to the bench. Greg Bird returns to lock, with Leivaha Pulu back to the bench.
Moses Mbye and Ashley Taylor, two very in-form players are in the key battle here. Whichever one can control their team better with kicks, but also keep an impact from their running game should guide the side to victory.
Prediction
Hard to see the Titans staging an upset here. Moses Mbye should have a pretty decent afternoon, with the Titans defence unable to contain him and the other Bulldogs creative players.
Bulldogs by 8.
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Follow Scott on Twitter @sk_pryde