Match Details
Match Date	22nd May, 2004
Opponent	Wests Tigers
Result	Loss 26-30
Coach	Steven Folkes
Captain	Braith Anasta
Venue	Gosford (Express Advocate Stadium)
Crowd	14,897
Referee	Tony Archer

Wests Tigers fullback Brett Hodgson wound back the clock on Saturday night to help the Wests Tigers to a 30-26 victory over an understrength Bulldogs outfit in their NRL clash at Gosford Stadium.

Tigers centre Shane Elford scored an intercept try, off a Brent Sherwin pass, in the 70th minute to give his team the lead for the first time in a see-sawing match.

Wests led 30-26 and held on grimly to notch back-to-back victories following their win over Canberra last weekend when Hodgson ran for a total gain of 283m, despite being ill.

On Friday night he defused several dangerous bombs, made some telling breaks and scored a 32nd minute try.

The 26-year-old also set up a try for Jason Moodie in the 17th minute.

Hodgson, who played three Origin games for NSW in 2002, will place pressure on Blues No.1 Ben Hornby if Queensland wins Origin I by a big margin.

The 'Dogs were missing forwards Steve Price, Mark O'Meley, Willie Mason and and Andrew Ryan through representative commitments.

They were also forced to play a home match in Gosford because the playing surface at Sydney Showground was deemed not up to scratch.

The Bulldogs skipped to a 12-0 lead through tries to centres Ben Harris and Willie Tonga in the opening 15 minutes.

Wests got on the board in the 17th minute with a try to Moodie after Hodgson made a half-break, brushing off Braith Anasta.

Tonga bagged a brace of tries in the 32nd minute, taking an intercept and powering across the line from 10m as the 'Dogs widened their lead to 18-6.

But the Tigers turned on the pressure in the final five minutes of the half.

Hodgson showed blinding acceleration to cross under the posts and Mears darted from dummy-half to set up Keiran Kerr for an 18-all halftime scoreline.

Anasta scooped up a loose flick pass from Corey Hughes to score three minutes after the break but it was nullified in the 55th minute when Tigers centre Dene Halatau pounced on a Kerr bomb that no one contested to level the scores at 24-24.

Source: AAP

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