[Source: NRL]

The Sea Eagles narrowly avoided becoming the victims of what would have been the comeback of the season on Sunday night, surviving a ferocious finish from the Sharks to claim a 30-26 victory.

After scoring 24 unanswered points through the first half, Manly extended their lead to 30 early in the second period and looked set to claim a big victory, before Cronulla turned it on with five tries – three of which came in the space of six minutes in the dying stages – to set up a thrilling final five minutes at PointsBet Stadium.

It was truly a game of two halves, the first of which saw Manly score five tries on the back of 66 percent possession, before a glut of errors from them, coupled with a much improve effort from the Sharks, saw the hosts dominate almost the entire second stanza.

Not helping Manly’s cause was the loss of Josh Aloiai (shoulder) and Taniela Paseka (knee) to injury, while Jake Trbojevic missed most of the final quarter after undergoing a HIA which he passed.

In the end Anthony Seibold’s men held on for a win which leaves them equal with the Knights on 23 competition points, just one back from the eighth-placed Eels and three behind the Sharks, who will now be watching the ladder nervously ahead of facing top-of-the-pile Penrith next Saturday.

After running in tries to Aloiai, Lachlan Croker and Haumole Olakau’atu in the first half hour, Manly harassed Cronulla’s left edge with success, scoring through Tolutau Koula and Reuben Garrick, with Jason Saab involved on both occasions.

Koula made the gap 30 with his second four minutes into the break, before the Sharks hit go.

Ronaldo Mulitalo got one back and came within a whisker of making it two just minutes later, but for the Bunker finding he had lost control of the ball short of the line.

Sione Katoa then added one on the other side of the field, but with the deficit sitting at 22 as the final 10 minutes approached, any comeback seemed highly unlikely.