Matt Moylan created two tries in the final three minutes to secure a spectacular late 24-20 victory over the Canberra Raiders at Carrington Park in Bathurst on Saturday.
Trailing by eight with under three minutes left, Panthers backrower Corey Harawira-Naera scored a try to set up a frenetic finish, before the Panthers went 100 metres in the next set with Tyrone Peachey backing up and taking a Moylan offload to race 30 metres and score under the posts.
The Raiders had taken the lead for the first time with 23 minutes remaining when English star Elliott Whitehead outleaped Moylan and flicked a pass for Joey Leilua to score, before quick hands from skipper Jarrod Croker to Nick Cotric for his second four-pointer took the Raiders out to an eight-point lead that looked good enough to win the game before the Panthers’ late response.
Panthers: 1 Dylan Edwards, 2 Josh Mansour, 3 Dean Whare, 4 Waqa Blake, 5 Dallin Watene-Zelezniak, 6 Matt Moylan (c), 7 Nathan Cleary, 8 James Tamou, 9 Mitch Rein, 10 Reagan Campbell-Gillard, 11 Corey Harawira-Naera, 12 Isaah Yeo, 13 Trent Merrin; Interchange: 14 Tyrone Peachey, 15 Leilani Latu, 16 Tim Browne, 17 Viliame Kikau
Tries: Moylan, Cleary, Harawira-Naera, Peachey
Goals: Cleary 4
Raiders: 1 Jack Wighton, 2 Nick Cotric, 3 Jarrod Croker (c), 4 Joseph Leilua, 5 Jordan Rapana, 6 Blake Austin, 7 Aidan Sezer, 8 Junior Paulo, 9 Josh Hodgson, 10 Sia Soliola, 11 Josh Papalii, 12 Elliott Whitehead, 13 Luke Bateman; Interchange: 15 Royce Hunt, 16 Clay Priest, 17 Joseph Tapine, 21 Kurt Baptiste.
Tries: Cotric 2, Rapana, Leilua
Goals: Croker 2
Full coverage of all the weekend’s NRL matches can be found in Monday’s issue of League Express
