A depleted Cronulla produced their second brave performance inside a week in downing the Gold Coast 10-9 on Saturday night.
Already without captain Paul Gallen and Luke Lewis through injury, representative back-rower Wade Graham was a late scratching to leave the Sharks severely undermanned.
But that didn’t deter Cronulla in soggy conditions on the Gold Coast as Chad Townsend slotted a clutch field goal in the final 90 seconds to secure victory for the Sharks.
It was the second big effort in seven days from Cronulla, who were similarly down on troops in their win over Penrith last weekend.
Valentine Holmes had opened the scoring after 10 minutes when former Sharks fullback Michael Gordon failed to defuse a bomb, allowing Jesse Ramien to find Holmes to score out wide.
The Sharks were out to an 8-2 lead just before half-time after Edrick Lee crossed from a long Josh Dugan pass just after the half-hour mark.
Townsend’s first field goal one minute from the break gave the Sharks a 9-2 advantage in the wet.
But the Titans hit back just three minutes into the second half through hooker Mitch Rein.
Kurt Capewell looked to have secured victory for Cronulla seven minutes from full-time only to have his effort chalked off for a double movement, while Jayden Brailey had earlier done brilliantly to hold up Gordon.
Ash Taylor leveled the score at 9-all with four minutes to play with a field goal, only for Townsend to respond with his second one-pointer of the night less than two minutes later.
The Sharks have another injury concern with Dugan appearing to damage a foot in the lead up to Townsend’s match-winning field goal, an absence they can hardly afford given they are already without Gallen, Graham and Lewis.
It was potentially a massive two points for Cronulla who now host Parramatta at Shark Park next Saturday night.
Leader Scoreboard
Cronulla Sharks 10 (Valentine Holmes, Edrick Lee tries. Chad Townsend two field goals)
defeated
Gold Coast Titans 9 (Mitch Rein try. Michael Gordon two goals. Ash Taylor field goal)
at Cbus Super Stadium
Sharks’ next three: Eels (home), Raiders (away), Bulldogs (home)
