Dragons fall in Golden Point deja vu

The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs have booked themselves a second week finals clash with the Sydney Roosters after a tough 11-10 golden point win over the St George Illawarra Dragons in front of 33,000 fans at ANZ Stadium.

The first half was a dour affair with just the one try coming in the opening 40 minutes and that came to Brett Morris who was able to show enough strength and class to twist his wrist and manage to stretch out and plant the ball down on the line for the Bulldogs to open the scoring. Despite an apparent dominance from the Bulldogs they weren't able to crack the Dragons defence again and the score remained 6-0 at the break.

The second half almost started perfectly for the Dragons with Eto Nabuli looking like he had scored and Jared Maxwell onfield agreed, however on the Video Referee review it showed that Nabuli had never grounded the ball and Morris had a hand on it on the line therefore the no try came up. Soon after, the Benji Marshall of old was on show and whilst Dragons fans and commentators loved it, it was clear to the rest of us that his path to the tryline on this occasion was a massive obstruction and was ruled as that from the Video Refs.

A bad leg injury to Marshall didn't seem to hinder the Dragons, but not before Tim Lafai crossed. Once again an obstruction was called by the referees on field, and the Video Refs agreed to keep the score at 6-0.

The final 12 minutes of regular time was the most exciting, with points flowing freely. Eto Nabuli scored in the corner with an amazing stretch and grounding as he was heading towards touch under attention of four Bulldogs defenders to score and Gareth Widdop's sideline conversion locked the scores up.

Soon after the Dragons found themselves in front when Gareth Widdop dived on his charged down field goal attempt only to cop the knees of Frank Pritchard in the back then an apparent crusher tackle from Sam Kasiano - and after getting the penalty, Widdop put the Dragons in front.

A 78th minute try to Shaun Lane seemingly won the game for the Bulldogs; but the missed conversion from Moses Mbye came back to burn the hosts, when straight from the short kick off the Dragons got a penalty after the officials ruled Lane had caught the ball in an offside position after Curtis Rona knocked it on.

Widdop struck the penalty goal from 35m out and 10m in from touch to secure an unlikely 10-10 score line after 80 minutes.

In golden point Widdop went from hero to villain for the Dragons fans when, after both sides missed field goal attempts, Widdop tried to go for a 40/20 but sent the ball out on the full giving the Bulldogs excellent field position. It didn't go past the subsequent set - Josh Reynolds won the game for the blue-and-whites slotting a one-pointer and sent them to week 2 of the finals.

The fulltime whistle means curtains for the Dragons' season, a courageous effort from a side written off at various points after a big mid-season slump. Canterbury have the mammoth task of taking on the Roosters who have downed them twice this season - that game will happen on Friday night at Allianz Stadium, with the winner to face Brisbane in a sunshine-state preliminary final a week later.

Match Details

Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs 11 St. George Illawarra Dragons 10
Venue: ANZ Stadium
Crowd: 33854
Halftime Score: Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs 6 St. George Illawarra Dragons 0

CANTERBURY-BANKSTOWN BULLDOGS (11)
Tries: Brett Morris, Shaun Lane
Field Goals: Moses Mbye (0/1), Josh Reynolds (1/1)
Conversions: Moses Mbye (1/2)

ST. GEORGE ILLAWARRA DRAGONS (10)
Tries: Eto Nabuli
Field Goals: Gareth Widdop (0/1)
Conversions: Gareth Widdop (1/1)
Penalty Goals: Gareth Widdop (2/2)

LeagueUnlimited.com Players of the Match:

3 points - Jake Marketo
2 points - Josh Morris
1 point - Josh Reynolds

LeagueUnlimited.com Live Commentary

Here come the Dragons out on to ANZ Stadium

The Bulldogs are out on the field as is the mass of smoke

1: PLAY UNDERWAY at ANZ Stadium - The Dragons have first use of the ball defending the Northern end of the ground

3: UNFORCED ERROR CANTERBURY-BANKSTOWN BULLDOGS
Josh Jackson makes an unforced error.
Josh Jackson tries to throw a pass across to his winger but it goes to the touch judge

3: Repeat set for the Dogs as Josh Dugan kicks the ball dead

5: UNFORCED ERROR CANTERBURY-BANKSTOWN BULLDOGS
Greg Eastwood makes an unforced error.
Greg Eastwood loses the ball the play straight after Josh Morris was held up in goal

6: PENALTY DOGS - Dragons penalised for being too slow out of the ruck

9: PENALTY DRAGONS - Aiden Tolman penalised for crowding the man playing the ball and the Dragons on the Dogs 20m

10: PENALTY DRAGONS - Bulldogs survive an attacking raid, Widdop and Dugan penalised for pushing the Dogs player into the ingoal after being held

10: VIDEO REFEREE: Brett Morris scores for the Bulldogs - Jared Maxwell says TRY, checking grounding

10: TRY CANTERBURY-BANKSTOWN BULLDOGS
Scored by Brett Morris. Kick to come.
Brett Morris keeps his arm free manages a could twist of the wrist and reaches out to score for the Bulldogs under the posts

11: SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION CANTERBURY-BANKSTOWN BULLDOGS
Conversion attempt by Moses Mbye successful.
Moses Mbye has absolutely no issues converting from infront

15: Good set after points for the Bulldogs comes undone after conceding a penalty for going on with a tackle too long

17: PENALTY BULLDOGS: Jason Nightingale holds on to Morris' legs too long and Jared Maxwell penalises him for it

18: Josh Reynolds keeps his arms free and gets the offload inside the Dragons 10m zone but its perfect for Jake Marketo in the red 'V'

22: Mbye goes high with the kick and Nightingale flies high and takes it for the Dragons

24: PENALTY DRAGONS - Bulldogs penalised for being too slow from the ruck on tackle 1, penalty count now 3-3

24: Benji goes close... flicks the offload to Jack de Belin but the Dogs defence is good enough to swarm all over him straight away

27: UNFORCED ERROR CANTERBURY-BANKSTOWN BULLDOGS
Frank Pritchard makes an unforced error.
A strong tackle from Frizell and another Dragons teammate forces Frank Pritchard into an error

29: PENALTY BULLDOGS: Aiden Tolman makes a good tackle (recognised as such by Jared Maxwell) but then concedes the penalty right on his own line

29: Moses Mbye puts in an kick down he short side and finds touch just past the 10m line

31: Brett Morris down clutching his neck... thoughts of a possible crusher tackle but its ruled play on when replays just show it was an awkward tackle

34: UNFORCED ERROR CANTERBURY-BANKSTOWN BULLDOGS
Josh Jackson makes an unforced error.
Josh Jackson has ruled to have knocked the ball out of Mitch Rein's hands despite most people thinking it was just a straight knock on

36: PENALTY DRAGONS: Josh Dugan gets close to the line and earns a penalty then the Dragons get another

37: UNFORCED ERROR ST. GEORGE ILLAWARRA DRAGONS
George Rose makes an unforced error.
George Rose loses the ball right on the Bulldogs line and lets off massive pressure

40: Play back underway at ANZ Stadium - Bulldogs have the first use of the ball

41: VIDEO REFEREE: Possible Eto Nabuli try, Brett Morris messes up at the back and cleans it up... but Jared Maxwell has a TRY

42: NO TRY - Brett Morris ruled to have grounded the ball on the goalline therefore it was a dropout

43: Good kick from Gareth Widdop forces Brett Morris ingoal and forces a repeat set

47: BENJI MAGIC... is illegal magic, Jared Maxwell's live decision of NO TRY is upheld when the replays show a massive obstruction

50: Benji is down and not in a good way with what is suspected to be a major injury

50: UNFORCED ERROR ST. GEORGE ILLAWARRA DRAGONS
Eto Nabuli makes an unforced error.
Eto Nabuli loses the ball in the kick contest and the it goes dead

51: Benji Marshall has succumbed to his leg injury and is off the field

54: Still no changes to the score as both sides are working their way close but can't cross the the line for points

55: UNFORCED ERROR ST. GEORGE ILLAWARRA DRAGONS
Mitch Rein makes an unforced error.
Mitch Rein makes an absolutely horrendous error from dummy half

57: VIDEO REFEREE: Possible Tim Lafai try... NO TRY is called by Jared Maxwell from advice by Gavin Morris in the pocket, checking obstruction

57: NO TRY - Josh Jackson ran an obstruction and that lead to the try... Dragons now up to the 30m on the penalty kick

59: Back to back penalties helps the Bulldogs from their own line up onto the the Dragons line

62: UNSUCCESSFUL FIELD GOAL CANTERBURY-BANKSTOWN BULLDOGS
Field goal attempt by Moses Mbye unsuccessful.
Moses Mbye tries to go for the field goal to take a 7-0 lead but it goes wide and they get a 20m restart

63: Repeat set coming up for the Dragons after Brett Morris kicks the ball dead after Josh Dugan steams through

65: Another repeat set for the Dragons after Curtis Rona knocked the high ball dead... Euan Aitken is now the man down for the Dragons

67: Josh Dugan is out cold for the Dragons in back play after Trent Merrin made friendly fire contact

69: DECISION REVERSED - Originally Jared Maxwell ruled a knock on by Eto Nabuli but Video Referees overturn the decision and the Dragons now get a scrum 10m out

69: TRY ST. GEORGE ILLAWARRA DRAGONS
Scored by Eto Nabuli. Kick to come.
Eto Nabuli uses his long arms to reach out and score in the corner under the attention of 4 Bulldogs defenders

70: SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION ST. GEORGE ILLAWARRA DRAGONS
Conversion attempt by Gareth Widdop successful.
Gareth Widdop slots the conversion out wide on the touchline and its a 10 minute shootout

72: Bulldogs get up to the Dragons 40m line before Josh Reynolds goes high and then concede the penalty when Sam Perrett tackled Eto Nabuli in the air

73: IT'S ON LIKE DONKEY KONG...

73: Field goal attempt blocked by the Bulldogs before Widdop is hit in the back by Frank Pritchard's knee

73: PENALTY DRAGONS: Frank Pritchard is penalised for leading in with the knees and the Dragons will tkae the 2

75: SUCCESSFUL PENALTY GOAL ST. GEORGE ILLAWARRA DRAGONS
Penalty goal attempt by Gareth Widdop successful.
Gareth Widdop slots the penalty goal and for the first time they lead

76: Gareth Widdop kicks the ball into touch around 10m out from the Dragons line

79: TRY CANTERBURY-BANKSTOWN BULLDOGS
Scored by Shaun Lane. Kick to come.
BULLDOGS SCORE - Shaun Lane scores the try after a great run on the play before by Josh Morris then a great offload and Shaun Lane scores what should be the match winner

79: UNSUCCESSFUL CONVERSION CANTERBURY-BANKSTOWN BULLDOGS
Conversion attempt by Moses Mbye unsuccessful.
Moses Mbye hooks the conversion left and the gap is 2

80: SUCCESSFUL PENALTY GOAL ST. GEORGE ILLAWARRA DRAGONS
Penalty goal attempt by Gareth Widdop successful.
An 80th minute miracle penalty has seen the Dragons kick a penalty goal

81: UNSUCCESSFUL FIELD GOAL ST. GEORGE ILLAWARRA DRAGONS
Field goal attempt by Gareth Widdop unsuccessful.
Gareth Widdop hits a field goal attempt sweetly but it goes wide and the Dogs get a 20m restart

82: Moses Mbye's field goal is charged down and the Dragons take the ball on the tryline

82: Gareth Widdop tries a 40/20 on the last tackle and it goes out on the full

83: SUCCESSFUL FIELD GOAL CANTERBURY-BANKSTOWN BULLDOGS
Field goal attempt by Josh Reynolds successful.
Josh Reynolds WINS IT for the Bulldogs... hits the field goal sweetly and it goes over the posts