Manly halfback Daly Cherry-Evans field goal sinks Warriors in golden point thriller
THE left boot of right-foot kicker Daly Cherry-Evans has kept Manly’s season alive with the halfback kicking a field goal in a golden point thriller.
MANLY’S $10 million dollar man Daly Cherry-Evans showed his value with a left-footed field goal to give the Sea Eagles a golden point 15-14 win against the Warriors on Saturday night.
Manly scored just three points after a blistering opening 15 minutes to keep their finals chances alive, recording consecutive wins for just the second time this year. The Sea Eagles were nearly flawless to start the game, completing their opening 23 sets in sloppy conditions in front of 1109 people in Perth.
Having missed an opportunity to win the game with the last play of regulation time, Cherry-Evans stepped up to boot the field goal in the first half of extra time, to have the Sea Eagles four points outside the top eight.
“That’s a very special game for us,” Cherry-Evans said.
“It keeps our season alive. We are under no illusions what tasks we’re under to make the top eight.”
The natural right footer-slotted the one-pointer with his left foot from the 20 metre mark, in what was just the second golden point game of the year.
“We muck around and practice a fair bit of that at training,” Cherry-Evans said. “It’s good to see it’s paid off.”
While Cherry-Evans slotted the match winning play, it was Jake and Tom Trbojevic who again starred for the Sea Eagles.
Their confidence grew after their time as part of the Blues extended squad this week. The loss was the Warriors eighth in a row in Perth, and could see them fall out of the top eight by the end of this round.
By the time the Sea Eagles had completed their first 10 sets, the Warriors had completed just one from their opening two. And Manly made them pay, with Tom Trbojevic and Jorge Taufua scoring inside the opening 13 minutes.
The Warriors were forced to make an extra 73 tackles inside the opening 15 minutes of the half.
Despite a mountain of possession against them, the Warriors crawled their way back into the contest.
Rookie interchange player Bunty Afoa scored twice within six minutes to have the scores level after 30 minutes.
A Jamie Lyon penalty goal gave the Sea Eagles a two point halftime lead. As the rain continued to fall, both sides completion rates dropped.
The only points of the second half came via an Issac Luke penalty goal to draw the scores level with seven minutes to go. Shaun Johnson had a field goal charged down in golden point.
MANLY 15 (J Taufua T Trbojevic tries J Lyon 3 goals D Cherry-Evans field goal) bt WARRIORS 14 (B Afoa 2 tries I Luke 3 goals) in golden-point extra time at nib Stadium. Referee: Gavin Badger, Chris James. Crowd: 11,109.
Originally published as Manly halfback Daly Cherry-Evans field goal sinks Warriors in golden point thriller