The Milton Ulladulla Bulldogs have gone down in a thriller to the Albion Park Oak Flat Eagles in round six of the Group 7 competition on Saturday
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The Bulldogs were on top early, with winger Dale Hammond diving over in the corner to open the scoring at Centenary Field.
A short time later the Bulldogs went further ahead when half-back Jayde Tooth stood in a tackle before offloading to Nick Goodman, who strolled through a yawning gap to dive over the line between the posts.
The score was 10-0 and the Bulldogs could easily have gone further ahead just minutes later when Lepani Waqa bustled forward and reached out to plant the ball over the line despite vigorous defence, but the pass to him was called forward.
After the Eagles hit back with an unconverted try , Waqa finally managed to get on the board when he jumped on an offload from Jason Wells and carried a defender over the line to score.
The 14-4 score remained at half-time, with the Bulldogs making the most of plenty of second-phase play, while the Eagles seemed to have problems holding the ball.
However after the break the game changed complexion, and the Bulldogs seemed to have handling issues.
The Eagles scored a converted try, but the Bulldogs hit back immediately with Dale Hammond crossing for this second, going over the line while running along the right wing then running around to plant the ball under the posts and creating an easy conversion for fellow winger Lachlan Moore.
At 20-10 the Bulldogs seemed to have the ascendancy, but the Eagles were lifting them intensity.
They crossed twice with both tries unconverted, leaving the home side two points behind with 20 minutes left on the clock.
The Bulldogs defended grimly, but inventive play from the Eagles saw them cross in the corner with 10 minutes left to take the lead 22-20.
The Bulldogs attacked fiercely in the final minutes, and twice were on the verge of scoring before being forced into touch or stopped just short of the line.
However they could not penetrate the Eagles defence, leaving the final score at 22-20.