Souths and Bulldogs play out
thrilling draw at Homebush

Fulltime score: Round 13 Canterbury Bulldogs 21 v South Sydney Rabbitohs 21

Match summary: South Sydney and Canterbury have played out a thrilling 21 all draw at the Sydney Showground this evening.

Souths lead 13-2 at the half through tries to Scott Logan and Mark Minichiello and a field goal to John Sutton and looked a good thing for the upset of the season but a more determined Bulldogs side emerged in the second half. Souths also had a poor second half, struggling at times to make it out of their own end of the park but they hung in there and the score line changed hands on numerous occasions throughout the second half and with less than two minutes remaining, Brent Sherwin kicked the field goal that took the match into extra time.

In extra time, the Dogs had the lions share of possession but couldn?t convert the possession into points and Souths gave them plenty of opportunity to win the game but the Dogs lacked the execution and nerve to steal the two points and put themselves back in the hunt for the finals.

One thing that didn?t go the Dogs way was another knee injury to Pepsi superstar Sonny Bill Williams. With his first touch of the ball, Williams fell awkwardly and took no further part in the match and must now face an arthroscopy next week to determine the extent of the damage.

Best for Souths were Mark Minichiello and Ashley Harrison while for the Dogs, only Roy Asotasi could hold his head high. Both Braith Anasta and Brent Sherwin had poor games and the lack of desire from the entire Bulldogs team was evident from the kick off. It looked as though they ran onto the field thinking the two points was in the bag. Souths had other ideas and had they executed a few plays with more finesse, the upset of the season would have been the talking point for every league fan come Sunday morning.

The Dogs have the bye next week but they have to do some soul searching and look at why they only managed to come away with a point after tonight?s ?effort?.

Scorers: CANTERBURY BULLDOGS 21 Tries: Lolesi 2, Armit Goals: El Masri 4/4 Field Goal: Sherwin

drew with

STH SYDNEY RABBITOHS 21 Tries: Logan, Minichiello, Young Goals: Sutton 3/3, Watts 1/2 Field Goal: Sutton

Sydney Showground Referee: Shayne Hayne Half time: Rabbitohs 13-2

Live commentary: 1st min: We are underway at Sydney Showground and tonights match sees the return of the great man SBW. Fresh from his Pepsi ad adorning the M4 Motorway, SBW will be looking to get the Dogs back in the winners list leading into the bye next week.

5th min: PENALTY GOAL - Bulldogs. El Masri slots an easy penalty goal from right in front to give the Bulldogs first points. Bulldogs 2-0.

15th min: No change in the score but the Dogs have had all the ball in the opening fifteen minutes but have done very little with it. Souths are hanging in but how long can they hang on?

16th min: TRY - Souths. Scott Logan picks up a rebounding kick to score under the posts and give the Bunnies a shock lead midway through the first half. Conversion successful. Souths 6-2.

21st min: PENALTY GOAL - Souths. John Suttons kicks Souths six points clear and are playing some decent footy. Still only early days though. Souths 8-2.

25th min: TRY - Souths. Mark Minichiello scores adjacent to the posts to put the wind up the Dogs, who are looking very uninterested tonight and Souths might just make them pay the ultimate price. Conversion unsuccessful. Souths 12-2.

30th min: SBW leaves the field with a knee injury after falling awkwardly in his first run with the ball.

35th min: SBW heads to dressing rooms for treatment on hi sinjured knee. Highly doubtful if he will return for the remainder of the match.

39th min: FIELD GOAL - Souths. With nothing doing, John Sutton slots a field goal from 25 metres out and the Dogs showed no interest in stopping the player with the ball. Souths 13-2.

HALF TIME: Souths hold an 11 point lead at half time and the Dogs will need to lift their game if they are get the points tonight. Souths are playign error free footy and are hitting the advantage line with gusto. The Dogs have played poorly so far and Brent Sherwin should be arrested for impersonating a Rugby League player. Very average performance and if the Dogs are to win, he'll need to lift his game big time.

41st min: We are underway in the second half.

46th min: TRY - Bulldogs. Chris Armit gets his first try for the year as Souths start playing some dreadful footy. Conversion successful. Souths 13-8.

54th min: TRY - Bulldogs. Lolesi scores after some slick blind side play by the Dogs to get them back in the lead. Souths are falling to pieces. Conversion successful. Bulldogs 14-13.

64th min: TRY - Souths. Trenty Young scores his first try in first grade and what an important try it is. Souths have been applying the pressure and the Bulldogs defence couldn't hold them out. Conversion successful. Souths 19-14.

67th min: TRY - Bulldogs. Lolesi gets a double and edges the Dogs back in front with under fifteen minutes to play. Conversion successful. Dogs 20-19.

75th min: Line drop out for the Bulldogs as Souths apply the pressure late in the game. They aren't going to die wondering. Can Souths get the miracle win?

76th min: PENALTY GOAL - Souths. Watts converts to give Souths a one point lead with under four minutes to play. Souths 21-20.

78th min: Souths now have to give the ball back to the Dogs via a line drop out with under three minutes to play. A real nail biter of a finish here. Can Souths hold on?

79th min: FIELD GOAL - Bulldogs. Sherwin slots the field goal and looks as though we are heading to golden point. 21 all.

80th min: We are all locked up after 80 minutes so we head to golden point.

83rd min: Penalty to Souths after Lolesi was ruled off side from a potential try to Cameron Phelps. Sherwin attempted a field goal, Souths did not clean up, Phelps punced but Lolesi was offside from the field goal attempt and within ten metres of Phelps when he grounded the ball.

90th min: FULL TIME. Neither side could get the extra point to win the game but the Dogs let far too many chances slip through their fingers. Souths fought hard to the final whistle and one point may be the difference in the Dogs making or missing the finals. ----------------------------------------- Leagueunlimited.com players of the match: 3 - M Minichiello (Souths) 2 - R Asotasi (Bulldogs) 1 - A Harrison (Souths) -----------------------------------------