Late drama as Manly and Warriors battle to stalemate

The Warriors rallied from 16-0 down to earn a hard-fought golden-point draw at home to Manly.

The Warriors have escaped with a dramatic golden-point draw against Manly, after a post-siren penalty denied the Sea Eagles victory in Auckland.

With Manly leading 22-20 and three seconds left on the clock, Josh Aloiai collected Shaun Johnson’s outstretched leg after the Warriors half attempted a two-point field goal.

The shot fell short, but referee Chris Butler sent the play upstairs before the bunker declared Aloiai had made dangerous contact on Johnson as he ran in from the side.

The subsequent penalty sent the match to golden point, with the Warriors missing two great chances to claim victory.

The draw is only the sixth in the last decade, and left both teams with three wins and two losses.

Both sides will feel they should have walked away with all the points in a gripping high-tempo encounter.

After Manly led 16-0 inside 27 minutes, the Warriors scored twice shortly before halftime to go in at the break trailing 16-10.

The hosts dominated second-half field position as their middles ran amok, and moved to 22-20 down with 55 seconds left to play when Dallin Waetene-Zelezniak scored out wide.

Johnson nailed the sideline conversion, before the last-play drama sent the match into extra time.

The Warriors had the best chance to win it late in the first half of golden point, before Tohu Harris dropped a ball from 30 metres out and right in front.

Johnson had another attempt at a field goal in the second half of extra time from 30 metres out, but sent it well wide to the right.

Daly Cherry-Evans also had two long-distance chances for Manly that fell well short, leaving the rival No.7s at a stalemate.

The draw came at a cost, with Manly’s Ben Trbojevic and Warriors prop Jazz Tevaga each suffering hamstring injuries.

For the first 79 minutes of the match, Cherry-Evans looked on course to outgun Johnson.

A week after becoming Manly’s most-capped player, the 35-year-old showed there is no end in sight for him.

He scored the first two tries of the match, putting himself in the right place after an offload from Tom Trbojevic went to ground and collecting a Tommy Talau kick after a break.

Trbojevic also looked in good touch for Manly, putting on a long cut-out for Talau to score a try after Luke Brooks went to the line and held the ball up for his fullback.

But the Warriors swung the momentum before the break.

Tevaga charged through under the posts from a short Harris ball, before Waetene-Zelezniak picked off a Brooks pass on halftime and went 60 metres to score.

Cherry-Evans gave Manly a 12-point advantage soon after the break when he sent Ben Trbojevic through a hole.

But a piece of Johnson magic kept the Warriors in touch, when he stepped Tom Trbojevic from 40 metres out to score and make it 22-14 before the late drama.