The Bulldogs emerged 30-20 winners at Skilled Park in Round 5 this year – but had to secure victory the hard way after a spirited early showing from the home side.
Greg Bird opened the scoring in just the fourth minute when he latched onto a Steve Michaels bat-back of a Scott Prince cross-field bomb. The Titans stretched their lead to 10 points at the 14-minute mark when Brenton Lawrence streaked away for a 50-metre solo try against the run of play following a Michael Ennis dropped ball.
Ben Barba got the Bulldogs on the scoreboard supporting Frank Pritchard in the 24th minute before the Titans responded immediately, Scott Prince throwing a lovely 20-metre cut-out pass for his winger Kevin Gordon who touched down for a 14-6 Titans lead.
The ’Dogs struck back with successive tries to Josh Reynolds and Josh Morris, with Reynolds strolling over after being felled by Luke Bailey but not being held, and Morris supporting a Ben Barba break down the left flank. That saw the visitors head to halftime with an 18-14 lead.
The Titans edged ahead again thanks to Nate Myles’ barge from close range in the 50th minute but then the Bulldogs closed out the contest with snappy tries to Frank Pritchard (from a simple run-around) and then Steve Turner (65th minute).
