The Gold Coast Titans pulled off a gritty win against the Parramatta Eels in the closing match of Magic Round 2023.
Result
Gold Coast Titans 26
Tries: (5) Kieran Foran 8th, 10th; Alofiana Khan-Pereria 22nd, 50th; Brian Kelly 71st.
Goals: (3)Tanah Boyd 12th, 24th,51st
Parramatta Eels 24
Tries: (5) Maika Sivo 1st,42nd,54th; Clinton Gutherson 56th, Andrew Davey 76th.
Goals: (2) Mitchell Moses 58th, Clinton Gutherson 76th
Report
It was a fairy-tale start for the Eels, with flying winger Maika Sivo scoring the first try of the game in the opening two minutes of play to give the Parramatta side an early lead.
The Eels success was short lived, however, with captain Clint Gutherson sinbinned for a professional foul and the Titans wasted no time in capitalising on the one-man advantage, grabbing their first points of the evening through Kieren Foran in the set they gained through fullback’s penalty.
Getting their monies worth playing against 12 men, Foran went back-to-back and grabbed his second of the evening only minutes later, giving the Gold Coast side a little breathing room. A skilful chip and chase to himself soon saw tryscoring machine Alofiana Khan-Pereira add to the Titans tally for the night and leaving the scores at 16-4 going into the break.
The Eels came back with a vengeance following halftime, with Sivo scoring two more rapid tries in quick succession to give himself hattrick and bring his side back into the match.
In between Sivo’s two efforts, Alofiana Khan-Pereira also grabbed his second of the night, making it the second week in a row he has scored a double.
With Clint Gutherson making up for his earlier error by jagging another quick try, the Eels were well truly in a position for a mighty comeback effort.
The last 10 minutes of this one was a nail-biting event, with a try to Brian Kelly appearing to seal the deal for the Titans, before a Dylan Brown assist to Andrew Davey saw the Eels edge back within two points with three minutes left to play.
In the end, despite a valiant effort from Parramatta to force a grandstand finish, the Titans defence was resolute, and they got away with a narrow victory of 26-24.
PLAYER OF THE YEAR POINTS
Embed from Getty Images3 – Alofiana Khan-Pereira (Titans)
2 – Maika Sivo (Eels)
1 – Kieran Foran (Titans)
