NRL season 2015: Parramatta score unlikely victory over Manly, putting the Sea Eagle sin doubt for finals

PARRAMATTA have scored one of the most unlikely wins of the season, putting Manly’s finals hopes in the hands of other results.

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - AUGUST 23: Blake Leary, Josh Starling and Jake Trbojevic of the Eagles look dejected during the round 24 NRL match between the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles and the Parramatta Eels at Brookvale Oval on August 23, 2015 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)

THE end. Manly’s gripping surge toward an unlikely NRL semi-final spot all but sank into a wet and murky Brookvale Oval yesterday afternoon.

Parramatta scored a memorable and unlikely four-tries-to-three victory, defeating the home favourites 20-16.

The Sea Eagles entered the game as $15 smokies to win the premiership, but by the end of the day they were $51.

This year’s finals series could be the first since 2004 not to feature Manly.

“Diabolical — our worst (performance) of the year,” was Manly coach Geoff Toovey’s assessment of yesterday’s performance.

INJURY: ACL scare may end Ballin’s Manly career

VIDEO: Stewart’s freakish 40/20 save

Manly remain on 24 competition points, two points outside the top eight.

The only team Manly can dislodge now is St George Illawarra, who have 26 competition points.

With a superior points differential, the Dragons only need to win one of their final two games to claim eighth position ahead of Manly.

The Dragons play Gold Coast away and Wests Tigers at home.

Manly would have to win their remaining games against Sydney Roosters at home and Cronulla away to have any chance.

It was difficult to determine what was more annoying yesterday — the constant rain or the ramblings of a ground announcer who even irritated the Brookvale faithful.

Manly dropped plenty of ball and looked off the pace from the start. Parramatta weren’t too much better but they were committed and tough.

Junior Paulo (left) and Luke Kelly celebrate the Eels upset win.

“We were lucky they were as bad as us I suppose to keep us in the game,” Toovey said.

“I think we completed 21 sets from 40. Just diabolical, our worst all year. We seemed to go from bad to worse.

“The performance we put on tonight, we don’t deserve to be there.

“Very disappointing.”

Toovey knows his finals hopes are now out of his hands.

“We need some luck now,’’ Toovey said.

“All the luck was in our hands over the last three games. If we kept winning, we were a really good shot.’’

Manly had roared back into the finals contention with big wins over New Zealand, South Sydney, Brisbane and Canberra.

It seemed yesterday that pressure finally caught up with them.

“To be using journalistic stats, we have won seven of the last eight,” Toovey said. “We have had a fair run.

“It’s very hard to be up all the time but I thought that dip happened last week (against Canberra). The players were aware of that. We knew what we had to do.

“But unfortunately we didn’t come up with the goods today.”

Parramatta led 14-10 at halftime and deserved their win.

Manly skipper Jamie Lyon said: “We weren’t good across the park in anything tonight.

“We were very average. Disappointing. We’ll have to get ourselves up and play better next week.

“We had a good run — tonight was definitely our worst performance in a long time, probably the season.

“I didn’t sense it. Our warm-up was good. Everything was good. We just turned up too many soft tries and kept dropping the ball.

“Simple as that.”

PARRAMATTA 20 (S Radradra 2 B Faraimo M Ma’u tries L Kelly 2 goals) beat MANLY 16 (J Hasson P Hiku S Matai tries J Lyon 2 goals) at Brookvale Oval. Referee: Alan Shortall, Ben Cummins. Crowd: 11,018.

Relive all the action in our live blog!

Originally published as NRL season 2015: Parramatta score unlikely victory over Manly, putting the Sea Eagle sin doubt for finals