Top eight race heats up as Wests Tigers edge Manly Sea Eagles 22-20 in Campbelltown

IT may be unlikely, improbable and doubtful but Wests Tigers coach Ivan Cleary refuses to surrender. “We’re still alive, for now” Cleary said after his side’s dramatic 22-20 win over Manly at Campbelltown Stadium.

The Tigers kept their season alive at Campbelltown Stadium. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

IT may be unlikely, improbable and doubtful but Wests Tigers coach Ivan Cleary refuses to surrender.

“We’re still alive, for now” Cleary said after his side’s dramatic 22-20 win over Manly at Campbelltown Stadium on Thursday night.

“We’re still going.”

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The Tigers kept their season alive at Campbelltown Stadium. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

Wests Tigers move to 26 competition points — two behind the New Zealand Warriors and Brisbane Broncos, who have a game in hand and a superior for-and-against.

The Tigers play South Sydney next Thursday night at ANZ Stadium, while coach Cleary’s son, Nathan, can help his Dad by guiding Penrith to a big win over the Warriors on Friday night in Auckland.

“Well, there is a certain No.7 who is over in Auckland who knows what he has to do,” Cleary said.

“Hopefully they can do their job over there. We will just sit and watch — what can you do?

“You’ve just got to cross your fingers.

“We have shown we can beat the best teams. We will have to play a fair bit better though. For now, we just sit back and see what happens and then we will know what is in front of us.

“It’s great that we’re still alive at this point.”

The Tigers are now just two points off a top eight spot. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

Manly led 8-6 at halftime on Thursday night before Wests Tigers miraculously scored three tries in just five minutes early in the second half to KO the Sea Eagles.

Wests Tigers struck first in the second half — and it was a lovely try.

Veteran hooker Robbie Farah crept cross-field and laid on a wonderful grubber kick for the chasing Chris Lawrence, who beat Manly defenders to ground the ball.

And before Tigers fans could re-take their seats the home side was over again.

Daly Cherry-Evans was strong for Manly. (AAP Image/Dean Lewins)

Forward Alex Twal cut a giant hole in Manly’s defence and rampaged his way down field before slipping a pass to fullback Moses Mbye, who scored.

The small yet vocal crowd of 8163 went into raptures.

And Wests Tigers scored their third try in five minutes when winger Kevin Naiqama shot over out wide. It was his second try of the match.

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Three quick tries left Manly stunned and shocked. Out of nowhere, Wests Tigers had grabbed a decisive 22-8 lead.

“It looked pretty good midway through the second half but I was disappointed with the first half. We just looked distracted. We pretty much didn’t do what we planned to do. We really didn’t get it together at all in the first half,” Cleary said.

“In the end it was a scrap and we hung on to win.”

Wests Tigers skipper Chris Lawrance added: “I was really proud of the boys how we defended our line in that first half.

“They had a lot of ball and they are a tough team to hold out. To keep them to one try, we did a good job.”

WESTS TIGERS 22 (K Naiqama 2 C Lawrence M Mbye tries E Marsters 3 goals) bt MANLY 20 (D Cherry-Evans 2 T Hodkinson tries D Cherry-Evans 3 T Hodkinson goals) at Campbelltown Sports Stadium. Referee: Matt Cecchin, Alan Shortall. Crowd: 8,163.

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Originally published as Top eight race heats up as Wests Tigers edge Manly Sea Eagles 22-20 in Campbelltown