Taylor praises victory

PARRAMATTA officially revived their finals hopes last night with one of the most dramatic and gutsiest wins of the season.

Not even the 50th-minute dismissal of prop Fuifui Moimoi could derail the Eels as they withstood a Manly surge before kicking again for a 13-point victory - their sixth on the trot.

The problem for Jason Taylor and his team is they will probably be without Moimoi for an extended period after his nasty high tackle on Sea Eagles prop Brent Kite.

But they are issues for tomorrow when the match review committee grades the tackle. Last night the Eels could reflect on their charge to 22 points to join eighth-placed Cronulla.

Taylor remained tight-lipped about the Moimoi incident but lauded his team's brave win.

"For us to do the job in the last 30 minutes with only 12 men was a great effort,'' Taylor said.

"It was our best win over the last few weeks, that's for sure.

"I haven't had a look at it (Moimoi's tackle), but when we lost Fui, we got a bit panicky and played individually a bit defensively and were all over the place. When we settled down, we did a great job to finish the game and outscored them with a man down.''

When the dust settles this weekend, the Eels will likely finish in ninth spot - setting up a blockbuster clash against StGeorge Illawarra at Parramatta Stadium on Friday night.

On form, the 2005 minor premiers should make the finals, but Taylor is keeping a lid on the emotion.

"I've said all along, I would have been disappointed if we didn't finish the year playing as well as we can,'' he said. "That's all we can do at the moment. There's still a long way to go.

"Now that we've got this close, it doesn't mean we say, `If we don't make it, we've failed'. We've done a great job to get here.

"If that's good enough to get us in the eight, then great. If it's not, I won't be disappointed.

"The thing I wanted to avoid was having a season where there are seven or eight games to go and we say, 'Oh, there's eight to go, let's get it over with ... now there's seven, now six.

"I've been part of those seasons before and it's not enjoyable. We want to finish strongly now. We're certainly believing in each other.''

The Eels led 24-6 at the time of Moimoi's dismissal and had to weather a fierce fightback from Manly, who scored three tries in 17 minutes to trail by six points with 10 minutes to play. But a try to Luke Burt in the 72nd minute put Manly to bed, before a John Morris field goal applied salt to the wound. Eels interchange weapon Dean Widders said the side was building irresistible momentum in the run to the finals.

Manly utility Shayne Dunley was reported for kneeing Jarryd Hayne in the 32nd minute - and coach Des Hasler vowed to contact referee boss Robert Finch over the performance of Clark.

"There were some consistency issues around the ruck that I'll ask Robert Finch about,'' Hasler said. "Players were a little bit frustrated with the ruck calls.

"We thought we had a chance there to win the game, but all credit to Parramatta. When they were down to 12 men they rose to the occasion.''

PARRAMATTA 31 (L O'Dwyer 2, L Burt 2, J Hayne tries; Burt 5 goals, J Morris field goal)

MANLY 18 (S Matai, P Stephenson, C Hicks, L Williamson tries; M Orford goal).Referee: S Clark. Crowd: 15,404.

The Sunday Telegraph