Dolphins beaten again in Kougari
Oval thriller

Queensland Cup rugby league fans were dealt up a treat today when Wynnum defeated Redcliffe 30 - 28 in todays tv game. The standard of football was first rate and the game went down to the wire.

There was plenty of atmosphere at Kougari Oval with Redcliffe desperate for a win to avoid dropping out of the top five and Wynnum fans chansing a rare win over the Dolphins.

The fans didn't have to wait long for some action with Brian Jellick scoring a controversial try in the 3rd minute. The former Kiwi International knocked down a Wynnum pass and roared away to place the ball under the posts while Wynnum players looked on awaiting the call of knock on. Referee Rob Alexander went to the video ref who awarded the try to the boos of the local crowd.

A couple of minutes later McPherson busted the redcliffe defense with a big dummy beforecrashing into Justin Mckay and eventually getting the ball the tryline. In the 11th minute Royce Simms made it 12 - 6 to Wynnum with one of his trademark crawls over from dummy half. Simms tried twice more in the 1st half but the Redcliffe defense were not fooled again.

Four minutes later Redcliffe closed the gap to two points when Shane Perry weaved across the blind side and put Danny Green into a gap to score. Green had a standout 1st half andwas instrumental in Redcliffe's next two four pointers including a chip & chase effort to put Damien Richters away giving Redcliffe the lead for the second time in the game.

Moments after Rod West left the field with a suspected broken arm John Shillington put the Gulls back in front after Joel Barnes had the ball knocked out of his hands in the in-goal. Quinn made it 18 - 14 with his 3rd conversion. Grant Wooden then busted Redcliffe up the middle from the kickoff and combined with Bruce to put Bachmann away to score. Trailing 24 - 14 the Dolphins found a new gear and scored a great try out wide to trail by 6 at the break.

The early minutes of the second half were all Wynnum. The Gulls showed some enterprising attack only to be denied twice just meters from the line. Eventually it paid off though with Phillips scoring in the corner after some exciting play.

Injuries were taking their toll and when Grant wooden left the field both sides were down to 15 men. Andrew Wynyard and Royce Simms were both injured in the first half.

The game was being played at a thrilling pace when at the 1 hour mark Shane Perry kicked a 40 - 20 to turn Redcliffe poor field position around. Seconds later Bruce was sent to the bin with Redcliffe on the attack. In the ensuing set Adam Starr bustled his way into the3 defense and reached out to place the ball rigtht on the line. Richters conversion made it 28 - 24.

With 8 minutes to go Wynnum took a penalty goal to go 6 in front. Wynnum gave away a penalty and then Trent Leis scooted across to score in the corner. Richters lined up the tough conversion to tie the score but the wind deserted him and it went across the face of the posts.

The last five minutes can only be described as finals football. This was a game of champagne Rugby League. Redcliffe fell just short and ran out of legs.

Best for the Dolphins were Danny Green, Trent Leis and Shane Perry. This loss will surely see Redcliffe drop out of the top 5 and a win is desperately needed over Souths Logan next weekend to get the premiership defense back on track.

Wynnum 30 (McPherson, Simms, Shillington, Bachmann, Phillips tries; Quinn 5 goals) Redcliffe 28 (Richters 2, Jellick, Green, Starr, Leis tries; Richters 2 goals)