Gritty Titans dig deep to post first win of 2024

After coming up just short against the Raiders and Sea Eagles, Des Hasler's Titans dug deep in Auckland to come up with first win of 2024, downing the Warriors 27-24 at Go Media Stadium.

Trailing 12-0 after just seven minutes the Titans looked to be in for another long day but with AJ Brimson and David Fifita standing tall, they broke a six-game losing streak in style.

An early penalty against Titans centre Brian Kelly for a dangerous tackle gave the Warriors field position and Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad capitalised when he sliced through from 10 metres out. Shaun Johnson knocked over the conversion for a 6-0 lead.

Just four minutes later the home side had a second when Addin Fonua-Blake powered through Kieran Foran from close range for his third try of the season and the Warriors had raced to a 12-0 advantage.

The Titans hit back with a long range try in the 14th minute with Kelly putting Alofiana Khan-Pereira into space, the winger making plenty of ground before turning a pass inside for Brimson to race away and score.

The Warriors looked to mount more pressure in the 25th minute but a forward pass by Fonua-Blake let the Titans off the hook and they worked their way upfield to post a second try through Tanah Boyd, who showed good speed and footwork to score. The five-eighth converted his own try to make it 12-12.

With Brimson asking plenty of questions in attack the Titans struck a massive blow in the 38th minute when Fifita took an inside pass from Chris Randall and carried two defenders over the line to make it 18-12 to Hasler's men.

A spilled bomb by Marcelo Montoya deep in his own territory handed Boyd a chance to slot a field goal to stretch the lead to seven points at the break.

Just three minutes after half-time the Titans went further ahead when Kelly put a move on Rocco Berry and then sent a superb flick pass for Khan-Pereira to cross in the left hand corner.

Trailing 23-12 the Warriors looked to have hit back Roger Tuivasa-Sheck pulled down a Johnson bomb to score but replays showed Wayde Egan had knocked on at dummy half and the bunker cancelled the try out.

The Titans marched down field and Fifita produced a quality offload to send Brimson over for his second try of the day in the 55th minute and Gold Coast were closing in on a drought-breaking victory at 27-12.

With his team desperate for a response Fonua-Blake took a pass from Dylan Walker and powered over under the sticks and the Warriors were back within nine points.

Six minutes later the Warriors crossed again when Berry followed through a Johnson bomb and came up with a great catch to score. Johnson's conversion made it 27-24.

Johnson continued to pepper the Titans' back three with high kicks but the visitors dug deep for three consecutive sets to keep their tryline intact.

With four minutes to play, Johnson turned to the grubber kick and forced a line dropout, before Kelly came up with a huge play to defuse a bomb in the 78th minute and the Titans clung on for a morale-boosting victory.