Dugan magic extends Dragons' hoodoo Star full-back Josh Dugan scored two tries to spark an unlikely last-minute 24-19 win for the Canberra Raiders over St George Illawarra and extend the defending champions' hoodoo at Canberra Stadium on Monday night.A Jamie Soward field goal looked to have won it for the Dragons just one minute from full time, but the Raiders forced one more set, allowing Josh McCrone to grubber past the defensive line as Dugan stole in to score the match winner.
The Raiders' win means the Dragons have still not won in the nation's capital in 11 years.
It capped a sensational individual effort from Dugan who had sparked the Raiders to come back from 18-6 down to level the scores at 18-18.
The full-back had scored a scintillating try - his first of two for the night - on 53 minutes after holding off Soward before bursting between Matt Cooper and Beau Scott to put his side just six points behind.
Thirteen minutes later, the Raiders attacked the right wing to spring a three-versus-two trap to allow Blake Ferguson to power over at the corner flag. McCrone then nailed the crucial conversion from the sideline to level the scores.
Brett Morris had opened the scoring for the Dragons on 10 minutes but Josh McCrone levelled it up eight minutes later, as Croker put the Raiders in the lead with his conversion.
But the Dragons looked determined to put their poor Canberra form to bed as first Matt Cooper then Ben Creagh went over to give the visitors a 14-6 lead after 30 minutes.
The men in red looked in total ascendancy when Soward worked his way into space before chipping perfectly into the path of the onrushing Mark Gasnier who slid in to score a beautiful try just before half-time, to put the Dragons 12 points up heading into the break.
But Dugan's brilliance sparked Canberra into a thrilling recovery before Soward and Dugan exchanged field goal attempts.
One minute before the final whistle, Soward finally struck with a perfectly hit drop kick with what looked like the match winner.
No-one told Dugan, however, as the full-back steamed in to score the unlikeliest of tries to continue St George Illawarra's pain in the capital.
More to follow.
Source: abc.net.au
Topic: Dugan magic extends Dragons' hoodoo
