Match Details
Match Date	1st Apr, 2012
Opponent	Gold Coast Titans
Result	Win 30-20
Coach	Des Hasler
Captain	Michael Ennis
Venue	Gold Coast (Skilled Park)
Crowd	14,344
Referee	Gerard Sutton Gavin Badger

The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs have won their fourth game from five starts this season, outlasting the Gold Coast Titans 30-20 in a match that was grinding and exhilarating in equal measure at Skilled Park.

The Bulldogs started slowly and trailed 10-nil and 14-6 at stages throughout the first half, however when they clicked they showed glimpses of individual brilliance interspersed by team play that had many of those in the 14,000 strong crowd on their feet.

Individually, Ben Barba scored one try and set up length of the field screamer for Josh Morris however it was his defence that drew most acclaim, the diminutive fullback holding up Nate Myles and Luke Bailey over the line in arguably his most complete performance to date this season.

It was the Bailey tackle late in the piece with the Bulldogs holding a ten point buffer that earned the most praise, with the former representative prop steaming onto a Luke O'Dwyer grubber kick before somehow being held up by the much smaller Barba.

The resulting no try ruling took the wind out of the Titans sails and allowed the Bulldogs to close out a gritty win.

It was a strange kind of game, Bulldogs head coach Des Hasler said post match. They got away to a flyer, they came out pretty fired up. They've had a pretty tough couple of weeks the Titans.

Our side showed some real commitment, to hang in there and to claw their way back into the game. That's what this Bulldogs side so far has shown a willingness to do, they're very good like that. They're learning and they're trying to graft out games, we're a young side and we're still in that learning curve.

While we can keep winning games and keep learning at the same time, it puts us in good stead going forward. But we've got to be realistic, we have got to improve in some areas. We know that and we're working on addressing those areas with the ball.

But we'll gladly take the two points.
On the subject of Barba, Hasler said while he can score and set up tries, it was his defence that shone through today.

That's a part of his game that he's really worked hard on and continues to work hard on, Hasler said. That's probably one area of his game that he needed to address and to come up with two try saves today was a great reward for him.

The Titans struck first, tipping back a Scott Prince bomb into the waiting arms of Greg Bird who raced away to score in the corner for a four-nil lead after five minutes.

Four turned into ten on the quarter hour when Brenton Lawrence capitalised on a dropped ball out of dummy half from Michael Ennis, scooping it up and running 50 metres to score.

Down 10-nil it took the Dogs nearly 25 minutes to kick into gear, but when they did it was instantly effective, with Kris Keating and Frank Pritchard combining to send Barba in to score under the posts and all of a sudden the Dogs were in the contest at 10-6.

But they were right back on the rack from the re-start, which caught everyone by surprise by ricocheting off the uprights the first of two such occurrences for the half and back into the Titans possession.

By the end of the set the home side had scored their third try, with Scott Prince firing a bullet like 20 metre pass for Kevin Gordon to score in the corner.

The Dogs fought back to trail by two on the run into half time thanks to a brilliant team try finished off by five eighth Josh Reynolds, who was brought down but not held by Bailey after hitting a gap off a Corey Payne flick pass.

With referee Gavin Badger calling play on after Bailey's attempted tackle, Reynolds sprung to his feet and sprinted 10 metres to score, edging the Bulldogs closer at 14-12.

Then Barba turned on the magic to give Josh Morris his fifth try of the year and the Bulldogs the half time lead at the end of a 105 metre movement that started deep in their own in goal.

Fielding the ball off a Prince grubber and with two defenders in front of him, Barba somehow made it back into the field of play before spotting a gap down the eastern touchline. With only Titans fullback William Zillman in front of him, Barba drew his man before passing to Morris who touched down wide out.
Steve Turner made it three from three for the half with the boot to send the Bulldogs into the shed an unlikely 18-14 leader.

A Bulldogs lapse in defence gave the Titans the easiest of tries to return to the lead after half time, Myles crashing over on a fifth tackle hit up to make it 20-18 the home side's way after 49 minutes.

But the Bulldogs wouldn't be down for long, Pritchard carrying both Prince and Zillman over the line for a four pointer soon after.

The Bulldogs kept coming and looked to have sealed it 15 minutes from time when Turner dived over and then converted from the sideline to put the Bulldogs 10 points clear at 30-20.

However the last twist and turn was to come, with Barba's heroics on Bailey a fitting way to close out the match for the four and one Bulldogs.

The Bulldogs face a shirt turnaround into Friday's round six away encounter against the South Sydney Rabbitohs at ANZ Stadium.

Source: AAP

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