Storm get out of jail in
Melbourne

The Melbourne Storm have cashed in all their 'get out jail free' cards to score two late tries and defeat the Canberra Raiders 22-18 at Olympic Park tonight.

Following a lacklustre first half, the Storm were hanging onto a narrow 10-8 lead and both sides had some work to do.

The Raiders then lifted to score two tries, both to Joel Monaghan, in the space of four minutes. With 25 minutes to go, the Raiders held a handy 18-10 lead.

The score remained unchanged up until the 75th minute when the Storm bench player Cooper Cronk finally put the Melbourne side back in the match.

Then with less than two minutes remaining, Ben MacDougall backed up to score the winning try, touching down centremetres inside the dead ball line.

STORM 22 Tries: Hill, Kearney, Cronk, MacDougall Goals: Orford 3/4 defeated RAIDERS 18 Tries: Monaghan2, Bulgarelli Goals: Gafa 3/4

Olympic Park Melbourne Referee: Steve Lyons

By the clock: 0 min: Kickoff!

3 min: TRY - STORM. Scott Hill races away from some ordinary defence to score 10m in from touch. Conversion Matt Orford hits upright and bounces away. Storm 4-0

11 min: TRY - Storm. Steve Kearney scores almost unopposed after the Melbourne side carve up the Raiders down the right flank. Conversion Orford OK. Storm 10-0

17 min: TRY - Raiders. Jason Bulgarelli hits the hole and scores out wide. Matthew Gafa converts. Storm 10-6

30 min: NEWS - No change to score. Possession and field posession almost dead even as both sides ruck it out. Raiders with a couple of opportunities but unable to complete. Penalty count favouring Storm 5-2 with Bulgarelli being the main offender.

39 min: PENALTY GOAL - Raiders. Gafa makes no mistake from right in front. Storm 10-8

40 min: HALF TIME. A dull 40 minutes of footy with neither side showing any interest in having a go. Both sides with plenty of work to do.

Second half underway...

43 min: NO TRY. Storm denied following an overlap which sees Steve Turner 'score' out wide. Video ref pulls out the obstruction rule to throw another dampener on the match.

49 min: TRY - Raiders. Joel Monaghan scores out wide as the action finally hots up. Conversion Gafa unsuccessful. Raiders hit the front 12-10

53 min: TRY - Raiders. Joel Monaghan gets a double and cops some knees in the back for his trouble. Follows some soild lead up work with the Raiders finding gaps up the middle of the ruck. Sideline conversion from Gafa is a ripper. Raiders 18-10

63 min: NO TRY - Storm denied when video ref rules that Steve Turner has knocked on and players are in front of the kicker. Raiders still in front 18-10.

72 min: NEWS - Storm chancing their hand now as Turner is put into a gap. But the Raiders defence holds firm as the Storm make another error.

75 min: TRY - Storm. Cooper Cronk scores next to the posts as the Raiders defence opens up close to the line. Conversion Orford. Raiders 18-16

77 min: NEWS - Raiders forced into a line drop-out and the Storm get a repeat set.

79 min: TRY - Storm. Ben MacDougall scores from grubber kick and is ruled by the video ref to have got it down just inside the dead ball line. The Storm have used their 'get out of jail free' card. Sideline conversion from Orford adds the icing. Storm 22-18

FULL TIME: Hard work for the Storm supporters who watched their team leave it to the last five minutes to snatch victory.

For the Raiders, they really have no excuse and this was one that got away. They enjoyed 53% of the possession and had their opportunities.

----------------------------------------- Leagueunlimited.com players of the match: 3 - R Kearns (Storm) 2 - R Wiki (Raiders) 1 - S Kearney (Storm) -----------------------------------------