As it happened: Crichton delivers late as Bulldogs outlast Eels

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Dominant Dogs: All the numbers favoured the Bulldogs, who had 54 per cent of possession, had 60 tackle breaks to 31, made six line breaks to three and made 500 more metres than the Eels. For all that dominance the Bulldogs were taken to the wire by the injury-riddled Eels, who dug deep after going 12 points down with 30 minutes to play.

Full-time: That's a fifth win of the season for the Bulldogs thanks to a long-range penalty goal from Stephen Crichton and some massive contributions from Jacob Kiraz (27 runs for 246m, 10 tackle breaks, 8 offloads) and Connor Tracey (29 runs for 281m).

80 min: Ronald Volkman gets the ball on the last tackle but rather than shoot for a 40-metre field goal he launches a bomb which is easily taken by Bronson Xerri and the Bulldogs hang on.

78 min: A Jacob Kiraz error hands the Eels an opportunity but Josh Addo-Carr is pushed into touch as they swung the ball to the left but ran out of room.

77 min: Stephen Crichton steps up and nails the penalty goal from 40 metres out. Bulldogs 14-12

76 min: Bailey Hayward turns a pass back inside for Matt Burton who is taken high by Tallyn Da Silva. The Eels hooker is placed on report and Burton leaves the field for a HIA.

74 min: Matt Burton elects to grubber on the fifth play and it is easily cleaned up by the Eels. 

73 min: Ronald Volkman gets his kick spot on from long range and the Dogs are trapped in-goal. The line dropout is a short one, Isaiah Iongi comes up with a spectacular catch but Tallyn Da Silva is penalised for an escort and the Bulldogs come away.

72 min: Lachlan Galvin's long ball lands at the feet of Enari Tuala and it goes into touch off the winger's boot.

70 min: A forward pass from Dylan Walker to Teancum Brown on halfway hands the Bulldogs a chance.

69 min: The Bulldogs butcher a certain try as Bronson Xerri tries to tap on a pass for his winger and it goes well forward. Matt Burton and Connor Tracey had combined to put the Dogs in position but the chance went begging.

62 min: The Eels go bang-bang as debutant Teancum Brown explodes through Sitili Tupouniua and gets into the back field where he picks up Joash Papalii and the five-eighth races 40 metres to score. Tallyn Da Silva converts. 12-12

60 min: Cometh the hour mark, cometh The Foxx as Joash Papalii and Sean Russell combine to put Josh Addo-Carr away down the left before the winger deftly kicks back inside for Tallyn Da Silva to regather and race away to score. Da Silva converts. Bulldogs 12-6

59 min: Bailey Hayward grubbers but it's too big and the Eels come away.

57 min: A penalty against Kelma Tuilagi while in possession as he raises his forearm and catches Josh Curran in the neck. Tuilagi is placed on report and the Bulldogs come out of trouble on the back of the penalty.

56 min: Dylan Walker kicks cross field for Josh Addo-Carr who flies high to contest the ball with Enari Tuala. The Bulldogs winger is ruled to have knocked-on first so the Eels have a scrum feed 10 metres out.

54 min: The Eels finally get up the other end on the back of a powerful Jack Williams run but Ronald Volkman's kick is easily defused by Jacob Kiraz on the last play.

53 min: Teancum Brown enters the field on NRL debut for the Eels.

51 min: The Bulldogs go bang-back as Connor Tracey bombs and Stephen Crichton outleaps Isaiah Iongi to score. Crichton converts. Bulldogs 12-0

48 min: The Eels finally crack as Lachlan Galvin goes to the line and picks up a rampaging Sitili Tupouniua who tramples Joash Papalii and carries Isaiah Iongi over the line with him to score. Stephen Crichton converts. Bulldogs 6-0

46 min: Jordan Samrani drops it cold just 20 metres out from his own line and the Eels are under the pump again.

45 min: Kitione Kautoga makes a line break on the left edge his offload goes astray and into touch.

44 min: Jacob Kiraz catches a Matt Burton bomb and is shut down immediately by the Eels defenders.

42 min: Lachlan Galvin picks up Sitili Tupouniua with a short ball. The back-rower gets over the line but a miraculous save by Kitione Kautoga who gets his arm under the ball and holds it up. The Eels hang on.

41 min: The Eels allow the kick-off to bounce and it goes into touch. Bulldogs scrum 10 metres out.

Back three stand tall: Isaiah Iongi, Josh Addo-Carr and Brian Kelly found themselves coming out of their own end at regular intervals but never shirked the task. With 37 runs between them for 288 metres, the Eels fullback and wingers did a fine job of getting their team out of the danger zone.

Back in town: Connor Tracey didn't skip a beat in his return from a hamstring injury as he racked up 137 metres from 16 runs. Tracey was strong on kick return and also busted four tackles in a strong first half.

To the max: Bulldogs prop Max King started the game in style with eight runs for 92 metres and two tackle breaks in 25 minutes of game time. King also came up with 19 tackles.

Half-time: We have the first scoreless first half since Round 19, 2021 when the Eels and Raiders came up empty at Cbus Super Stadium. The Raiders went on to win that game 12-10.

40 min: One last shot at points for Parra when Josh Addo-Carr grubbers ahead and looks to be obstructed in the chase by Stephen Crichton. The ball rolls dead, the Eels fail to challenge, we go to the break at 0-0.

40 min: The Bulldogs look to have conceded a try when Jacob Kiraz throws an offload that Lachlan Galvin tries to control with his boot but he knocks on. Galvin then picks the ball up and has it dislodged by an Eels defender and the ball spills to Joash Papalii who gets over the line. The bunker rules that once Galvin had regained possession the play was dead.

36 min: Another Dogs set, another error as Sitili Tupounia loses the ball into an Eels defender. The Bulldogs have had 55 per cent of the ball but come up empty.

35 min: The Eels cough up possession deep in their own territory again.

34 min: Connor Tracey puts in a terrible grubber on the fourth tackle and Josh Addo-Carr cleans it up.

31 min: Ronald Volkman and Brian Kelly make a mess of a play coming out of their own end and the Bulldogs are inside the red zone again.

27 min: Ronald Volkman gets a kick to pull up in the in-goal and Jacob Kiraz is trapped by Jordan Samrani. Bulldogs line dropout.

23 min: Another power set from the Dogs comes to a disappointing end as Lachlan Galvin's grubber is easily cleaned up by Isaiah Iongi.

18 min: Lachlan Galvin holds up his pass for a split second and then throws it behind Connor Tracey and Stephen Crichton and into touch.

17 min: Harry Hayes leaves the field with a hip injury.

17 min: The Bulldogs make 90 metres in their set and Lachlan Galvin's grubber has to be cleaned up by Isaiah Iongi forcing a line dropout.

12 min: Stephen Crichton grubbers into the in-goal and Leo Thompson chases hard but the ball beats him over the dead ball line. Seven tackle set for the Eels.

11 min: A turnover by the Eels as Ronald Volkman puts it down on halfway and the Bulldogs reload.

10 min: Lachlan Galvin goes to the air on the last but the ball can't be secured by Enari Tuala and rolls into touch.

8 min: Slick movement to the left by the Bulldogs but Jacob Kiraz's kick back inside is too deep and easily fielded by the Eels.

4 min: Isaiah Iongi fields a kick and is swamped by the Eels defence. Parra make just 23 metres on the set before Ronald Volkman goes to the boot.

5 min: Bronson Xerri comes up with an error on halfway as he looks to offload and the Eels go on the attack.

Late Mail

Bulldogs: Fullback Connor Tracey makes his return from a hamstring injury and has come into the side on game day with Jacob Kiraz shifting to the wing and Jethro Rinakama to the bench. Kiraz injured his calf in the warm-up last Saturday and didn't train this week but he is right to go. Bailey Hayward came into the starting side at hooker on Sunday with Kurt Mann dropping out due to an ear injury. Captain Stephen Crichton continues to navigate a shoulder injury but is good to go.

Eels: Hooker Harrison Edwards has come into the starting side on game day as he did last week with Tallyn Da Silva moving to the bench. Toni Mataele dropped off the six-man bench on Sunday with Charlie Guymer added in jersey No.20. Joash Papalii and Ronald Volkman are set to combine in the halves after Mitchell Moses fell short in his bid to recover from a hamstring injury. 

Numbers Game

• The Bulldogs have won three of their last four games against the Eels.
• The Eels have lost their last three games at Accor Stadium.
• Bulldogs winger Enari Tuala has scored six tries in six games against the Eels.