CANBERRA - Last year's wooden spoon is all but a distant memory for the Bulldogs after notching up their fourth straight NRL victory in a 30-20 win over the Raiders at Canberra Stadium on Sunday.
The Raiders made a flying start when prop Troy Thompson ploughed over the line in
the sixth minute before Bulldogs hooker Michael Ennis was put on report for a chicken wing tackle on fullback Josh Dugan.
Centre Joel Monaghan kept up the green machine's offensive when a Bronson Harrison pass saw him score Canberra's second try in the 13th minute, much to the delight of the 10,240-strong crowd.
Some snappy play from the Bulldogs helped centre Daryl Millard open his team's account in the 22nd minute when, despite a wall of green jerseys, his hand emerged to put the ball over the line to reduce the margin to 12-6.
Canberra's Adrian Purtell answered back three minutes later on the back of a pass from star five-eighth Terry Campese, however Dugan failed to find the sticks when it came to converting the try.
After a slow start, the Bulldogs gathered momentum to go tit-for-tat with the home side.
The Raiders were nowhere to be seen when Ennis, a prominent figure in the game, helped put big man Ben Hannant under the posts in the 31st minute to bring the boys in blue to within one try.
In the dying seconds of the first half they did just that when a mad sprint and dive into the corner by winger Bryson Goodwin took the Bulldogs to an 18-16 lead.
The downpour of tries in the first 40 minutes looked to have all but dried up in the second half.
While the Raiders tried valiantly to defend their line, they had no answers to an on-fire Ennis who scored his first try of the year out of dummy half in the 62nd minute to stretch the Bulldogs lead to eight points.
Dogged to the end, Canberra captain Alan Tongue came up with the goods five minutes later when the Bulldogs also struggled defensively during a second phase of play, but Dugan's boot again critically failed to find the mark.
It was all over when winger Hazem El Masri reminded the Raiders he was more than just a flawless goal kicker by converting his own try in the dying seconds of the game to see the Bulldogs leave the home side in their dust.
- AAP
CANBERRA - Last year's wooden spoon is all but a distant memory for the Bulldogs after notching up their fourth straight NRL victory in a 30-20 win over the Raiders at Canberra Stadium on Sunday.
The Raiders made a flying start when prop Troy Thompson ploughed over the line in
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