Titans upset fancied Panthers at CUA
The Gold Coast Titans have grabbed their second win in the NRL with a hard fought 24-22 win over Penrith at CUA Stadium, Penrith this afternoon.
The Titans had to dig extremely deep to fend off a once again fast finishing Panthers outfit.
The Titans, who scored their maiden triumph in round two against Cronulla, recorded four tries against the Panthers, who scored as many while falling to their second defeat of the season.
The visitors crossed for tries through Anthony Laffranchi, Preston Campbell, Scott Prince and Luke Bailey, while Campbell added three conversions and a penalty goal in his first appearance against his former team-mates.
The home side found the tryline via Rhys Wesser, Michael Gordon and Frank Pritchard (2) with Gordon kicking three conversions.
The Titans were cruising midway through the second half when Bailey's converted try saw them stretch out to a 24-6 lead.
However, the Panthers refused to give up and the converted tries to Gordon and Pritchard closed the gap on the scoreboard to just two points with less than a minute to play.
The Panthers tried desperately to find a match-winning try from the subsequent kick-off but the ticking clock and a knock-on saw them fall short.
Both sides will back up on Friday night with the Panthers facing off against Parramatta at home and the Titans meeting Brisbane in their first local derby at Lang Park.
Gold Coast 24 (A Laffranchi, P Campbell, S Prince, L Bailey tries; P Campbell 2 conversions, 1 penalty)
Penrith 22 (F Pritchard (2), R Wesser, M Gordon tries; M Gordon 3 conversions)
