A Daly Cherry-Evans left foot field goal in Golden Point has secured Manly Warringah Sea Eagles a 22-21 victory over the Warriors at Mt Smart Stadium.
The win moves Manly to 30 points with one round remaining.
Manly five-eighth Blake Green produced two 40/20 kicks in the opening 14 minutes to put the Sea Eagles into fine attacking positions.
Green was rewarded for his fine work when he delivered a short inside pass for lock Jake Trbojevic to score next to the posts. Winger Matthew Wright converted for a 6-0 lead.
A penalty goal to Wright in front of the posts extended Manly’s lead to 8-0 after 24 minutes.
The Warriors opened their account when they shifted the ball to the right for winger David Fusitu’a to score. Hooker Isaac Luke failed to convert the try for an 8-4 scoreline after 26 minutes.
Fusitu’a grabbed his second try when he planted the ball down with his left hand to score from a Shaun Johnson grubber kick for an 8-all scoreline. Luke failed to convert the try from close range.
Second Half
Wright converted his second penalty goal in the 44th minute to give Manly a 10-8 lead.
Two minutes later, Manly full-back Tom Trbojevic found open space before putting in a crossfield kick for centre Dylan Walker to score in the corner. Wright failed to convert the try for a 14-8 lead.
The Warriors drew level in the 51st minute when Luke converted a Blake Ayshford try after Fusitu’a took a bomb in front of Wright to offload to his centre to score to make it 14-all.
The Warriors were digging in, staying in the wrestle and then the break came in the 70th minute.
This time they set up to the left, Mannering, Foran and Tuivasa-Sheck all combining to send Ken Maumalo in at the corner. With Luke in the bin, Johnson had the wide-angled conversion and nailed it brilliantly.
Ahead 20-14, the Warriors worked their way back down field again, Johnson kicking deep and Wright losing possession on his goal-line. From the scrum they created a field goal play for Johnson, 21-14 after 73 minutes.
When all was lost, individual brilliance from Tom Trbojevic creating a clever chip and chase try for himself beside the posts to cut the lead to 21-20 after 76 minutes.
From the restart the Warriors kicked the ball out on the full, penalty to Manly on halfway and they tied it up 21-21 with a Daly Cherry-Evans nailing a field goal.
The seven-tackle set gave Manly a last shot but Cherry-Evans' effort went wide to the left taking the game into golden point.
Golden Point
The Warriors go wide but winger Ken Maumalo is dragged into touch by a desperate Uate and Walker.
Manly make their way up the field and the ball finds Captain Daly Cherry-Evans to kick a left foot field goal to seal the win in the first period of Golden Point.
Manly remain inside the top 8.
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