Titans seal victory in 89th minute

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Gold Coast Titans v St George Illawarra Dragons

The Gold Coast Titans have held on to secure a 89th minute, 20-16 Golden Point victory against the St.George-Illawarra Dragons in woeful weather conditions in the fourth game of NRL Magic Round at Suncorp Stadium.

The Titans were very much in the driver's seat throughout the first half, scoring in the sixth minute when Toby Sexton's kick was batted back by Phillip Sami to Jamayne Isaako. Isaako offloaded back to Sami who in turn offloaded out to the unmarked AJ Brimson who dived over in the corner for a good try. Isaako failed to convert from touch.

The next 15 minutes saw the Titans force 5 consecutive drop outs as well as receiving a set restart before Josh McGuire was sent to the sin bin in the 19th minute, handing the Titans a penalty, yet somehow the Dragons did not concede a point in this period.

In fact, it was in their third minute whilst playing with just 12 men, that the Dragons got on the scoreboard when Ben Hunt moved the ball left to Moses Suli, who drew a defender, which created an overlap, before getting a good ball out to Mathew Feagai who scored in the corner. Zac Lomax failed to convert from out wide. In the 29th minute the Titans scored a try when Sexton's grubber held up for Beau Fermor to pounce on before it landed in the waiting arms of Mikaele Ravalawa. Isaako converted the try.

Just before halftime, Jayden Campbell had a shot at a field goal but it was waved away. As the teams went into the sheds the Titans held a 10-4 lead.

Five minutes after the break, Ben Hunt kicked early to get a 40/20 for his side, but they were unable to mount any pressure from the opportunity.

In the 54th minute, Jack De Belin received a short ball from Talatau Amone and he crashed over to score. Lomax converted to level the scores. In the 65th, Ravalawa dived to score in the corner but was hit with an illegal shoulder charge from Sami. Ravalawa failed to score, but the Dragons received a penalty and Lomax nailed the goal from the sideline to give the Dragons a 12-10 lead.

Five minutes later Hunt drifted left, drew a defender and then sent Suli through a huge gap which he strolled through to score on the left side. Lomax failed to convert.

With five left in the game, Jarrod Wallace received a crash ball near the Dragons line and he smashed his way over to score a powerful try near the posts. Isaako converted to level the scores. At fulltime it was 16 all.

Isaako missed back-to-back field goal attempts in the opening three minutes of golden point before Lomax had a shot, which was also wide of the mark.

Sexton attempted to nail the match winner in the 87th minute but it was woeful, however it was also spilled by Amone on his own goal line. From the ensuing scrum the Titans opted to send the ball right to Isaako who dived and just managed to score in the corner before being taken into touch, giving the Titans a 20-16 victory.