Honestly, unlike my other posts, there was literally not much to write home about for the first 75 minutes of the game (15 errors, 12 penalties conceded, no need to say more). Greg Alexander himself acknowledged that overall the Titans were the better side and frankly watching it was just stressful. It's been a dramatic enough week for the team what with Griffin being let go and all the resulting speculation around Ivan Cleary (though good on him for clearing that up today, some people need to retract their declarations about his being a dog, thanks), this game was definitely being very closely scrutinised, the commentators pointing out quite truthfully that with a Titans win, any resulting coverage would barely mention their role so much as it would be all about the Panthers' loss amidst coaching confusion hell.
However thankfully, that wasn't to be. With less than 6 minutes left in the game, the guys were down 10 points and the likelihood of a win could have been considered a no go. Of course, being the Panthers, I wasn't ready to hang my head just yet because I've seen these boys pull out some pretty insane wins from behind, even with just a minute or so left in the game so I was still stuck well in. Down 16-6, the ball's in their hands and as they charge the field, Cleary gets it out to Whare who breaks through the defence and makes a good run in before passing it back to Cleary who deftly scores the try while I yell my head off at the TV and my brother watches in impressed disbelief from the side. Cleary then converts to get the score up to 16-12.
Then, with less than 35 seconds in the game, Kikau gets the ball from Maloney and runs, offloading deftly to Blake who then expertly gets it to Watene-Zelezniak on the inside and boom, another try to make an even 16-16 (again with the jumping up and down and yelling, again with my brother's amusingly impressed surprise). However, the win wasn't quite secured yet, particularly after Cleary missed the conversion taking the game into Golden Point.
First chance at the ball was with the Titans who failed to make it out far enough to try for the point and so the Panthers began their assault, all eyes on either Cleary or Maloney to make for the goal. Cleary got a chance in and kicked, aim decent but lacking the necessary power, giving the Titans another chance that went unfulfilled. Soon enough, the boys were back in decent position, Cleary gets the kick in and makes up for his earlier miss to bring us up 16-17, much to the dismay of the Titans' home crowd.
What a finish. Another insane win from a seemingly inevitable defeat which made up for an otherwise shockingly woeful game. Up we go into 4th spot on the ladder. Up the Panthers!!!
