Golden boy Pearce guides Roosters home

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Sydney Roosters v Melbourne Storm

The second-placed Sydney Roosters have come from nowhere to down Melbourne 25-24 in extra time, with Mitchell Pearce slotting an unusual field goal in the 85th minute, much to the delight of the Roosters fans in the near-22,000 packed in to Adelaide Oval.

It was the eventual victors who got off to the better start - Mitchell Aubusson getting the Tricolours on the board after 15 minutes. A quickfire pair of tries to the Storm turned the first half on its head though - a speedy Josh Addo-Carr ran a long range effort was followed by a 'meat pie' to last week's field goal hero Brodie Croft.

The Storm took that 12-6 lead to halftime and it took very little time to extend their advantage after the resumption, with Addo-Carr producing some acrobatics in the corner for his second of the night.

Vunivalu was the next to score the Melbourne outfit, but subsequent missed conversions meant the lead was only 20-6, which would come into play much later.

Latrell Mitchell gave the Roosters a glimmer of hope with a try on the hour mark, reducing the margin to eight points, but another Storm try to club debutant Jahrome Hughes put it back out to two converted tries.

That's where the Melbourne story stopped and the Roosters took over. Daniel Tupou was put through by Mitchell Pearce for the "home" side's next try, before a final minute effort from Blake Ferguson levelled scores right on the siren.

Extra time was a war of attrition with no field goal shots in the first four minutes - until Pearce stepped up out of nowhere and kicked one of the uglier field goals you'll see, moving his side within two points of the ladder leaders.

The Storm will lick their wounds and head north to Suncorp Stadium where they'll face fellow top-four outfit Brisbane, while the Roosters are in another salviating contest against the fourth placed Sharks - a home game to be played just up the M1 from their usual base, at Gosford's Central Coast Stadium.