Manly Warringah Sea Eagles recorded a gallant 22-20 victory over Sydney Roosters at Allianz Stadium tonight in round four of the Telstra Premiership.
The Sea Eagles went into the game missing forwards Martin Taupau and Brenton Lawrence before losing Steve Matai and Tom Symonds before the game through soreness after the team played on Monday night.
To make matters worse, the Sea Eagles then lost Jamie Buhrer (possible broken thumb) early in the first half and then had to play without half-back Daly Cherry-Evans (ankle) for the final minutes.
The Sea Eagles opened the scoring in the fifth minute when winger Jorge Taufua produced a great pick up from a cut out floating pass by Feleti Mateo to score in the left corner.
Sydney Roosters centre Shaun Kenny-Dowall celebrated his 200th NRL game when he pushed off Dylan Walker to score. Sio Siua Taukeiaho failed to convert the try for a 6-4 scoreline.
Taukeiaho then converted a penalty goal for a 6-all scoreline. Lyon put the Sea Eagles back in front with a penalty goal in the 24th minute for an 8-6 lead.
Kenny-Dowall gave the Roosters a 10-8 lead at half-time with his second try off a kick from Jackson Hastings.
2nd Half
The Roosters went to a 14-8 lead when centre Blake Ferguson saw open space to beat the tackles of Lewis Brown and Brett Stewart to score. Hastings converted for a 16-8 lead after 47 minutes.
A short ball by Daly Cherry-Evans saw Walker push off Ferguson to race 20m to slide over for a try in the left corner. Lyon converted from the sideline to leave the Sea Eagles trailing 16-14 after 55 minutes.
Lyon got the Sea Eagles level at 16-all when he converted a penalty goal two minutes later.
A smart grubber kick behind the line by Lyon saw winger Tom Trbojevic gather the ball in before offloading back inside for Lyon to score. He converted his own try to give the Sea Eagles a 22-16 lead after 59 minutes.
The Roosters then got a touch of luck when, despite the ball rolling forward, a try was awarded to Daniel Toupu for a 22-20 scoreline. A few minutes later, the Roosters were denied a try to full-back Latrell Mitchell after it was ruled he was offside.
The Sea Eagles dug deep to hold off the Roosters in the final minutes to take the two vital competition points and record their second win from four matches.
