Josh Reynolds gets winning Belmore farewell after Moses Mbye brilliance

MORE than an hour after full-time, Josh Reynolds was still shaking his head. Still in awe of one of the most magical afternoons of his life.

Josh Reynolds celebrates the Bulldogs’ triumph. Picture: Mark Evans

MORE than an hour after full-time, Josh Reynolds was still shaking his head. Still in awe of one of the most magical afternoons of his life.

The little boy who grew up a couple of hundred metres from the Belmore gates was celebrating his final home game at the Bulldogs’ spiritual home.

And what a celebration it turned out to be.

For Reynolds, and the “wonder woman” who made it possible.

His mum Nicole.

“When I ran out and saw her on the sideline and you could tell she’d been sooking,” Reynolds said of the start of the match when his mum greeted him for a pre-game hug amid the emotion.

But who could have imagined how this game would play out.

The drama.

The disbelief.

The excitement.

Josh Reynolds with mum Nicole after his last game at Belmore for the Bulldogs. Picture: Mark Evans

Josh Reynolds farewells the Belmore crowd after the Bulldogs’ thrilling win over the Knights. Picture: Mark Evans

As the Bulldogs rallied from 18-8 down with five minutes to play to pull off a memorable 20-18 victory that keeps their slim finals hopes alive.

“I haven’t really sat there and thought about what happened. It was pretty crazy,” Reynolds said of the wild scenes at fulltime, when his teammates chaired him across to his mum as thousands of fans flooded the ground.

“Probably tomorrow I will go back and have a look at it and realise how special it was.

“Like, when the boys came and lifted me on their shoulder, the view I had of the whole crowd and Belmore … mate, it will be ingrained in me forever.

“It really will be.

“I can’t thank the boys enough for today.

Josh Reynolds celebrates the Bulldogs’ triumph. Picture: Mark Evans

“We were down, let’s be honest.

“We were never winning that game but they found something and it just made the day even more special.

“This day will go down as one of my favourite days in a Bulldogs’ jersey.”

Early on it looked like the Bulldogs would coast to victory as they raced to an 8-0 lead in the first half.

But after Peter Mata’utia charged over from a quick tap just before halftime, the Knights rallied with former Bulldog Trent Hodkinson setting up back-to- back tries in the second half to claim an 18-8 lead.

Moses Mbye celebrates his matchwinning try for the Bulldogs. Pic Mark Evans

At that point it looked like the Bulldogs were gone until with four minutes left on the clock Will

Hopoate put Marcelo Montoya over and Kerrod Holland nailed the sideline conversion.

Moses Mbye then snapped up a Brock Lamb grubber kick that was heading for touch and raced the best part of 80 metres to score.

Holland’s final conversion gave Canterbury an 18-20 lead.

In a desperate finish, Reynolds almost went from hero to villain in the final seconds when he gave away a penalty in kicking distance for the Knights to send the match into golden point.

Josh Reynolds runs out for the last time as a Bulldogs player at Belmore. Picture: Mark Evans

But Hodkinson, who had taken the conversions throughout the game, handed over the 30m

conversion attempt to Lamb, who was still picking up his emotions after the Mbye try.

Hodkinson later admitted he should have taken the shot.

“I thought the penalty was on the 40m line and Lamby has the bigger boot,” Hodkinson told Triple M.

“He slots them at training all the time.

“When he lined it up it as on the 30 (metre line), I didn’t want to take it off him.

“He was zoned in. I probably should have taken it.

“I’m filthy I didn’t.”

Now on 16 competition points, the Bulldogs have the bye next weekend but can only afford to drop one more game in the run home if they are to make it to 28 competition points, which is usually the top-eight cut-off.

The Bulldogs’ remaining games are against the Broncos, Panthers, Eels, Rabbitohs, Sea Eagles

and Dragons.

Peter Mata'utia scores a try for the Knights. Picture: Mark Evans

But yesterday was all about the celebration for the local boy made good, and the mum who made it possible.

“She has been a massive part of my footy career, she really has,” Reynolds said. 

“I said to her, ‘look what you’ve done’.

“Look at all these people 

“She is such a big part of my life. 

“I can never thank her enough for everything she has done. 

“I know a lot of parents do it but that woman, she is a wonder woman.”

CANTERBURY 20 (K Holland M Mbye M Montoya tries K Holland 4 goals) bt NEWCASTLE 18 (P Mata’utia 2 C Mata’utia tries T Hodkinson 3 goals) at Belmore Sports Ground. Referee: Ben Cummins, Gavin Reynolds. Crowd: 13,103.