Dragons come up short in Canberra

Corey Horsburgh appealed for an early try for Canberra off a Jamal Fogarty grubber but was unable to get the ball to ground as the visitors brought the ball back out for a 20-metre restart.

The Dragons spent much of the opening period of the evening defending their own line but were able to repel the hosts on numerous occasions.

Sloan was too denied the opening points of the contest with officials ruling that Moses Suli’s pass in the lead-up drifted forward.

Xavier Savage got Canberra on the board a quarter of the way in with the winger crafting an athletic finish off the back of a Matt Timoko offload to make it 6-0.

Jaydn Su’A was placed on report for a dangerous tackle on Canberra captain Joseph Tapine shortly after.

Trey Mooney claimed another for the Raiders off a spilt bomb but was denied with officials ruling that the interchange prop was offside.

Canberra attempted to overturn the call through their Captain’s Challenge, but video officials ruled it inconclusive.

The Dragons took advantage of the penalty marching down the other end of the field and crossing through Sloan in near-identical fashion to the play which was called back earlier to cut the deficit back to 6-4.

The visitors stormed right back onto the attack courtesy of the kick-off sailing out on the full and were able to level things up after Ata Mariota was placed on report for a dangerous tackle on Blake Lawrie.

Kyle Flanagan stepped up to knock over a gift two points and make it six-all.

The Dragons conceded a frustrating four-pointer two minutes short of the break after Kaeo Weekes went close to the length of the field off a Dragons short-side raid which went wrong.

Weekes grabbed his second of the night early in the second half off the back of a penalty as the hosts leapt out to a double-digit lead.

They were able to snag another through Morgan Smithies who was the beneficiary of a tapped back Fogarty bomb as the lead grew out to 24-6 with a half-hour on the clock.

The Dragons wrestled back some needed momentum courtesy of a sideline-to-sideline effort consisting of multiple kicks.

The play was sparked by a damaging Michael Molo carry on the left edge before Flanagan sent up a kick which was batted back to Corey Allan who sent it back to Flanagan and eventually onto Su’A.

Su’A fashioned a weighted grubber which was spilt by a pair of Raiders and pulled up short of the dead ball line for Su’A to charge through and ground it.

Some of the air was sucked out of the visitors’ fightback attempt shortly after with Weekes again going long-range to nab his third try of the evening despite a spirited Jacob Liddle chase.

The Dragons refused to yield however with Clint Gutherson manufacturing a pinpoint cross-field kick from deep inside his own half to a flying Sloan who reeled it in to streak away for his second of the night and cut the deficit back to 10 with 13 minutes to play.

Sloan again found himself in the thick of things moments later with the Dapto junior finding space down the right touchline and crafting a perfect kick back on the inside for a supporting Flanagan who waited patiently for the ball to sit up and score to bring it back to 28-24.

The Dragons lost their Captain’s Challenge as timed ticked away in an attempt to wrestle back possession for a last-ditch shot as.

David Klemmer was binned late for a high shot on Tapine as the hosts held on for a tight win.