Losing in the final minute/s is never what a team wants but for the Parramatta Eels, after they fought back well to get back into the contest, a late Steve Matai gave the Manly Sea Eagles the win, with the game eventually finishing 22-18.
Starting the game out slowly and in a pedestrian-like manner, it was Manly who did most of the hard yards in the first half and they cemented their dominance – even if they couldn’t capitalise as such on all their opportunities – with a 10-0 lead heading into the break.
The second half was a different affair as it went back and forth, with the Eels seemingly coming to life and almost escaping with a huge, upset win.
It was not to be, though, with Manly coach Geoff Toovey pleased that his side had some luck go in their favour.
“It is pleasing [to get some luck], it would have been heartbreaking two lose two games in a row here at Brookvale by tight margins so I thought the football gods were a bit on our side today,” he said.
With several of their key players still out, Toovey knows that winning the close games is vital for any side moving forward.
“I think you’ve seen that over a few rounds, the more fancied teams have just snuck home. It was nice to be generic cialis cheap on that end of the tally today,” he said.
“But the players know it wasn’t our greatest performance, we need to improve, particularly for next week which we spoke about against the Roosters.
“It is important to perform well but [injuries are] going to happen to every side through the year, it is a tough game.”
Knowing full well that the Eels gave them a run for their money in the second half, Lyon praised the Eels work in the half.
“The second half in particular they were playing some good footy and really took it to us,” he said.
Although the Eels improved on last week, that was little consolation for coach Brad Arthur, who knows his side has to win games in order to get better.
“We tried hard, but we need to be better if we want to win games of footy,” he said.
“To get close enough is not good enough, we’ve got to find a way to win.”
He described the loss as “heartbreaking” for players and fans.
“But at the end of the day we’ve got to pick ourselves up and have a look at why it happened and what we can do to get better and make sure it doesn’t happen again. We’ve got to move forward,” he said.
Some blamed the referees for decisions that were made but Eels captain Tim Mannah was blunt with his assessment, saying the side lost the game for other reasons.
“There were a lot of things we could have done better, we didn’t help ourselves out with a lot of the errors we made, there were some things that were frustrating out there,” he said.
“That’s just footy and you’ve got to deal with the cards you’re dealt.”
3. Peta Hiku
2. Willie Tonga
1. Steve Matai