Burton’s golden boot gets Bulldogs home in thriller

A golden point field goal from superboot Matt Burton handed the Bulldogs a 15-14 victory over the Sharks at Accor Stadium on Friday night.

Having missed two earlier field goal shots, Burton found his range from 35 metres out in the 84th minute to give the Bulldogs bragging rights in the first ever golden point clash between the two sides.

The Bulldogs have now won their past six games at Accor Stadium and have climbed to fifth on the ladder.

On the back of a Cam McInnes mistake in the Sharks’ first set of the night the Bulldogs mounted huge pressure and grabbed the first try from an unlikely source – a Viliame Kikau grubber.

The back-rower picked up a loose ball and nudged a kick through which Sharks Toby Rudolf and Braydon Trindall made a mess of and Kikau pounced for his first try since Round 3

Another Sharks error in the 12th minute when Sione Katoa spilled a bomb invited the Bulldogs into the red zone again and Reed Mahoney surged over from dummy half to give the blue and whites a perfect start at 12-0.

A poor pass from Toby Sexton cost the Bulldogs a third try midway through the half and the Sharks made them pay when Briton Nikora ran a great line to cross under the sticks and Nicho Hynes converted to make it 12-6.

With eight minutes remaining in the half a long kick by Trindall was fumbled over the sideline by Jacob Kiraz but the Sharks failed to capitalise with Ronaldo Mulitalo putting it down as he forced an offload.

Both sides opened the second half with errors – one by Shark Thomas Hazelton and one by Bulldog Kiraz – as they battled for the early supremacy.

Come the 53rd minute and the Sharks launched a right side raid featuring quick hands by Trindall and Jesse Ramien before Sione Katoa showed great strength to power into the corner despite Bronson Xerri trying to manhandle him into touch.

Having worked their way back to 12-10 the Sharks invited the Dogs into a scoring position in the 60th minute after a forward pass by Trindall but Max King returned the favour with a knock on and Cronulla came away.

The Sharks hit the lead for the first time in the 62nd minute when Mulitalo regathered a Trindall bomb and somehow got a kick away which Trindall scooped up to score in the corner. Hynes missed the conversion but the Sharks had a two-point lead.

A penalty against Oregon Kaufusi for a crusher tackle with 11 minutes to play allowed the Bulldogs to march down field and on the back of a six-again call they had a shot when a Sexton grubber sat up for Josh Curran but the back-rower couldn’t control it.

With five minutes to play Bailey Hayward put in a grubber from close range and Sharks prop Rudolf was penalised for impeding his chase and Burton knocked over the penalty goal to square it up at 14-14.