Carney Kicks Raiders Home

Canberra half back Todd Carney has drilled a 40 metre field goal to give the Raiders a 15-14 victory in a thrilling golden point extra time clash tonight at Dairy Farmers Stadium in Townsville.

With only three minutes left in the 10 minute extra period and nothing really doing for Canberra Carney stepped up for the tiring Raiders and slotted a long range shot that instantly silenced the fanatical Cowboys home crowd.

“I actually didn’t think it went over until everybody starting grabbing me,” an excited Carney told Fox Sports immediately after the game.

North Queensland had numerous chances to put the game out of reach of the gutsy Raiders side making seven line breaks to Canberra’s two, but even with all the possession and field position favouring them in the end it was their silly errors throughout the game came back to haunt them.

Even though they had to contend with injuries and players backing up from State of Origin it was the Cowboys putting all the pressure on the Raiders in the opening stages of the match, but the first points of the match surprisingly went to the visitors as they scored totally against the run of play in the sixth minute courtesy of a sensational length of the field try.

The Cowboys seemed poised to score when full back Matt Bowen launched a bomb towards the right hand flank, but Raiders winger David Howell leapt highest to claim the ball and then with no-one in front of him set off up the field before throwing a pass inside to centre Phil Graham who then streaked away to touch down adjacent to the left hand upright (6-0).

That setback didn’t seem to phase the home side as they continued to press Canberra’s try line and when a Johnathan Thurston grubber kick rebounded into the arms of second rower Gavin Cooper North Queensland found themselves level at 6-6 after only 11 minutes of play.

The Cowboys dominance in possession and field position was finally starting to take it’s toll on the Raiders and when full back Clinton Schifcofske was penalised for taking out Thurston on a kick chase the five eighth was able to add to his points tally with a simple penalty goal to give the home side their first lead of the night (8-6).

That slim advantage didn’t last long for North Queensland with Howell scoring a try of his own in the 26th minute for Canberra after setting up the first of the night and they would have been further in front seven minutes later if not for the intervention of video referee Tim Mander who ruled that interchange player Marshall Chalk was slightly off side when chasing a kick into the Cowboys in goal area (12-8).

Howell was in the action again for the Raiders in the 36th minute, this time though it was for all the wrong reasons as his dropped ball behind his own try line should have resulted in a try to the Cowboys, but fortunately for him his blushes were spared when North Queensland captain Travis Norton knocked the ball on in his attempt to place the ball down.

Canberra also missed a great chance at points shortly before half time when Chalk inexplicably dropped the ball cold when the try line was at his mercy.

After an end to end battle in the first half the game settled into a defensive battle in the second stanza with the only points in the first 20 minutes being a Schifcofske penalty goal (14-8).

The match was turned on it’s head in the 64th minute when a beautiful movement from the Cowboys resulted in a try to Thurston in the left hand corner and with the pressure right on him the young five eighth calmly potted the sideline conversion to tie the game up at 14-14 heading into the final 15 minutes of the game.

Both teams came close to scoring tries as well as having field goals charged down in the last ten minutes of regulation time and with neither side able to trouble the scoreboard the game headed into golden point extra time.

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