St George Illawarra has won its sixth game in a row on Saturday night, prevailing 26-22 after a see-sawing clash to hand Gold Coast its first loss at Skilled Park.
The Titans made much of the running in the first half but led only 14-12 at the break and the Dragons capitalised on a couple of spilled bombs from Ben Jeffery in the second 40 minutes to sneak home on the back of Jamie Soward's perfect boot.
The opening 20 minutes was all the Titans as they scored the first try in just the fourth minute when stand-in half-back Brad Davis saw a gap down the left and chipped for Jeffery to catch and dive over.
Mat Rogers converted and then also slotted a penalty eight minutes later for an 8-0 lead, but the home side wasn't able to further capitalise on its early dominance and the Dragons got back in the game, with some luck, on the half hour.
A dropped ball from Josh Morris was ruled to have gone backwards even though it appeared to roll forward and he was able to regather after the Titans picked up the loose ball but then dropped it again.
Then a penalty against Jeffery for interference in the ruck led to Ben Hornby feeding Lagi Setu close to the line, with Setu getting away a superb offload for Hornby in support to score, and Soward converted for 8-6.
A silly penalty against Beau Scott gave Gold Coast the field position to scoot 14-6 clear again five minutes before the break, with Nathan Friend's grubber fortunately ricocheting off the legs of Rangi Chase for Brett Delaney to dot down.
But a chip from Davis that Soward cleaned up just ahead of a flying Preston Campbell was turned the other way as Soward put Michael Lett into the clear to race 60m and Jeffery's try saver proved in vain as Brett Morris crashed over a couple of plays later to bring it back to 14-12.
The Dragons were unlucky not to take the lead early in the second half when Soward fed Nightingale to dive over but Brett Morris accidentally obstructed Delaney, and the Titans responded a minute later in the 47th when Rogers sent Luke O'Dwyer over.
Rogers missed the conversion, leaving it at 18-12, and as had been the case in the first half the visitors struck back quickly, levelling it up when Soward converted Chase Stanley's try in the 52nd minute after Jeffery had spilled Soward's bomb.
On 56 minutes a penalty against Friend for interfering with Setu was converted by Soward for the Dragons' first lead at 20-18 but a wayward offload from Setu moments later was picked off by Rogers, who raced 30m to score before missing the conversion.
With 13 minutes to go St George Illawarra grabbed a 26-22 advantage when another Jeffery spillage, this time from a Hornby bomb - when Jeffery wasn't helped by a collision with O'Dwyer - gave Lett the easiest of tries, with Soward converting brilliantly.
Soward very nearly scored with nine minutes to go when Campbell dropped the ball but Jeffery laid another strong saving tackle, before Jeffery gave away a silly penalty with minutes to go.
The Titans regained the ball thanks to a silly Jason Ryles lost ball but with the Dragons looking shot as they scrambled in defence Michael Henderson lost