Steve Orme at Parramatta Stadium
The Wests Tigers have snapped a five-match losing streak with a hard-fought 23-6 victory over the Parramatta Eels at Parramatta Stadium on Monday night.
Both sides traded four-pointers in a tightly contested opening stanza, but the Tigers pulled away after the break with three tries and a Robbie Farah field-goal to move within four points of the top eight.
The victory, their first in nine attempts against the Eels, keeps the Tigers' finals hopes alive, while the Eels now have a mountain to climb if they are to feature in the post-season.
It was anything but smooth sailing for the visitors prior to the match with fullback Tim Moltzen ruled out five minutes before kick-off with an injured elbow, forcing Rhys Hanbury into the starting side.
The Eels were as ruthless in the opening 10 minutes as the parking attendant who turned Tigers duo John Morris and Chris Heighington away before kick-off, but they had nothing to show for their early dominance.
Skipper Nathan Cayless came within centimetres of the try line in the eighth minute but it was the Tigers who posted first points when Dene Halatau won the race to a miscued Benji Marshall grubber kick.
Marshall's kick took a healthy deflection off Eels centre Joel Reddy and fell straight in Halatau's path for the simplest of tries and a 6-0 lead after 19 minutes.
The Tigers stayed on the attack but were unable to extend their advantage as the hosts held firm under heavy fire.
Luke Burt took matters into his own hands on the half-hour when he danced through the heart of the Tigers defence for a brilliant solo try.
The veteran winger stepped three defenders before showing tremendous strength to ground the ball despite Daine Laurie's desperate bear hug on the line.
His conversion from close range sent the sides into the sheds all locked up at 6 apiece.
The Tigers broke the deadlock 14 minutes in when the increasingly dangerous Marshall drifted across field before linking with a hard-running Willie Mataka who crashed over adjacent to the posts.
Marshall made no mistake with the extras to re-establish a six point buffer.
Parramatta launched one last raid but their lack of potency in attack combined with improved goal-line defence from the Tigers kept them scoreless after the break.
Farah's field-goal with 13 minutes remaining gave the visitors some much-needed breathing space before tries to Farah and Taniela Tuiaki sealed the deal.
Wests Tigers 23
Tries: Halatau, Mataka, Farah, Tuiaki,
Goals: Marshall 3,
Field goals: Farah,
Parramatta Eels 6
Tries: Burt
Goals: Burt,
@ Parramatta Stadium, 15/06/09. Crowd: 12, 003