The Kurri Kurri Bulldogs survived a late storm of their own making to record a 26-24 win against top-three opponents Macquarie Scorpions on Saturday.
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The Scorpions scored two late tries, both through intercepts, and hammered the Bulldogs line for the final five minutes.
However, the Bulldogs prevailed much to the delight of the parochial Kurri crowd and the Bulldogs players who feared they had blown a win in forward Brock Gilmour’s 50th first grade game.
The win leaves Kurri a game clear on top of the Newcastle RL ladder after Maitland lost to Western Suburbs at Harker Oval.
Gilmour scored the opening try and was man of the match in his milestone game.
He also probably spared his team a spray for the Bulldogs’ final 10 minutes as Bulldogs coach Ron Griffiths opted to delay his review and let the Bulldogs celebrate the win.
“We’ll have a look at the game in review, we’ll take it for what it is,” Griffiths said.
“It’s a win and most importantly it’s on a day when we celebrate Brock’s 50th which is a great achievement.”
The Bulldogs should have won far more comfortably, with three of the Scorpions four tries coming against the run of play.
The most infuriating for the Bulldogs fans was a solo 95-metre effort by Scorpions fullback Matt Simon after he defused a bomb.
Simon went to the ground to avoid being pushed back into his end goal but was allowed to stand up without being tackled and promptly dodged the Bulldogs defence to run to the other end of the ground to score his second try of the half.
He was an ever-present danger and the Scorpions’ best in a game generally dominated by the Bulldogs.
The Bulldogs defence was strong and forced a number of turn-overs in the first half and stoutly defended their line in the second.
Kurri Kurri had plenty of attacking options with the forwards laying a strong platform and the backs creating plenty of headaches for the Scorpions, particularly on the left wing.
But instead of closing off the game leading by 14 points, the Bulldogs continued to chance their arm with a pass and chip kick intercepted and ended in tries.
Speaking after the game Gilmour said it was probably a lot tighter at the end than they wanted.
“We made it hard for ourselves but in the past few years we probably would have thrown that away,” he said. “It’s good to hold on against last year’s premiers on a good day at home.”
Gilmour said the Bulldogs had become a second family.
“They’ve welcome my wife and myself with open arms,” he said.
“We’ve just bought a house here. It’s where we live now and we want to raise a family here. It’s a great town and a great community.”
