Bulldogs win ugly over improved Saints

v BYE

The Bulldogs have found their way back into the top four with an unimpressive 3-point victory over the Dragons at ANZ Stadium tonight in front of 15,008 fans.

Josh Reynolds could land himself in some trouble for an attempted trip on Dragons Joel Thompson early in the contest. Reynolds has been in hot water before for the same offence many times - on this occasion he stuck his leg out in front of Joel Thompson when he was looking certain to score in the 15th minute, however both on-field officials missed the offence. It will certainly be reviewed by the NRL Match review committee since he has been charged for 2 other offences in recent years.

It wasn't the ideal start for what looked an improved Dragons side when they had two tries knocked back by the Bunker in the first half. 

24 minutes in, Josh Reynolds scored the first try of the game off a Moses Mbye runaway pass to Josh Morris, who then quickly got it to Reynolds for the Bulldogs to score.

Kasiano smashed his way over in the 29th minute off a Michael Lichaa pass and only had Gareth Widdop to beat. Reynolds then kicked a field-goal on the halftime buzzer to make the score 13-0.

The Dragons finally troubled the scorers in the 46th minute when Kurt Mann dove in off a Widdop kick out wide to score his 8th try in six games played in this season.

Dragons' centre Aitken then scored an identical try from the same boot of Widdop midway through the second half to bring the scoreline back within a 3 point difference, but it would stay like that until the buzzer sounded.

The loss leaves the Dragons slim finals hopes in tatters as they look to head home to Wollongong next Thursday to host the equally disappointing Broncos. Canterbury meanwhile will want to see plenty of improvement when they take on last-placed Newcastle at Hunter Stadium next Saturday afternoon.