Match Details
Match Date	20th May, 2011
Opponent	Canberra
Result	Loss 12-20
Coach	Kevin Moore
Captain	Andrew Ryan
Venue	Canberra (Stadium)
Crowd	12,865
Referee	Shayne Hayne Chris James

The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs have proven a statistical anomaly on the way to their fifth loss of 2011, going down 20-12 to the Canberra Raiders on a frosty night in the national capital.

The loss was the Bulldogs third in succession and came in spite of a the fact the Bulldogs dominated the match in almost every aspect, except the one that matters , the scoreboard.

The Bulldogs finished with a superior completion rate(79% to 68%), made 58 less tackles, ran the ball 29 more times than their opposition for a net gain of 182 more metres, and they finished with less errors and yet the Raiders outscored the visitors three tries to two, with the Bulldogs only working their way onto the scoreboard after 65 minutes of play.

In short, the Raiders made the most of the opportunities that came their way in both halves to secure their second straight win while the Bulldogs paid the ultimate price for some impotent attack when it mattered.

The lowness of the night was compounded for the Bulldogs after full time, when spearhead Aiden Tolman was diagnosed with a grade two medial ligament strain that will see him miss up to six weeks of football.

On the plus side, Josh Reynolds was impressive in his NRL debut, continually proving to be a thorn in the Raiders side on both sides of the ball.

The Raiders first try went the way of Joel Thompson after 10 minutes, the centre touching down off an opportunistic play that started when Sam Williams kicked high to Ben Barba.

With the defence upon him Barba spilled the catch, and the Raiders responded by putting it through the hands for Thompson to touch down wide out.

Proving the old adage that you make your own luck, the Raiders snatched their second on 26 minutes when winger Reece Robinson latched onto an intercept as the Bulldogs were working their way out of their own territory.

Robinson strolled into score, with Jarrod Croker's conversion making it 10-nil approaching the half hour mark.

Despite spending much of the half in Raiders territory the Bulldogs only looked like scoring once, with Josh Reynolds burrowing over from dummy half on debut only for video referee Tim Mander to rule an obstruction penalty against him.

The Raiders drew strength from their first half defensive effort and they started the second high on confidence, and soon they had their third try to show for it.

Barba was forced to chase hard on a Sam Williams kick that went desperately close to a 40-20, the fullback batting it back into play before being beaten to the ball by Blake Ferguson.

On the next play Joe Picker went in to put the Bulldogs down by 16 points to nil.

A Croker penalty on the hour stretched Canberra's lead to three converted tries, while the Bulldogs finally found some depth in attack and the tryline five minutes later, Josh Morris scoring to make it 18-6.

The Bulldogs were lucky to survive a Josh McCrone shot at field goal with 12 minutes remaining the Raiders five eighth somehow putting it ten metres to the left of the posts from 15 metres out and right in front and less than a minute later they found themselves in again down the other end of the field to reduce the deficit to a converted try.

Crucial handling errors hurt the Bulldogs just as it appeared they may be in with a sniff of victory, dropping ball on two separate occasions inside Raiders territory.

In the end another Croker penalty with 90 seconds remaining would sound the death knell for the Bulldogs, seeing them fall to a third straight defeat and to five and five for the year as the Raiders prevailed 20-12.

Source: AAP

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