Game at Chatswood oval was a very tightly contested match.
Gordon held out 7 consecutive scrum resets on their tryline at the 40min mark and Manly led Gordon 7-6 at halftime.
Gordon came out firing and scored first in the 2nd half with a try to Terry Preston who was a standout today. Gordon led 11-7 before Manly came back with a setpiece try to winger Will Helu to make it 14-11. A try to Manly after what was a clear knock-on (with even the Manly supporters scratching their heads) made the score 21-11. With 5 minutes to go, Gordon winger Manners made a break and looked to run 90m and possibly bring the game back to 21-18 - unfortunately this was called back by the touch judge ("assistant referee") as there may have been a gordon player who didnt release the tackled player earlier. Manly were able to cross again on the final play with a pass going to ground and popping up very nicely. Final score at Chatswood Oval was Manly def Gordon 28-11. Manly forward pack were a huge unit who kept pressure on the Gordon set-piece all day, Pete Gilmore also looked difficult to contain in the backline. Gordon will be buoyed by their efforts, the courage shown by a smaller, less experienced pack was heartening (with Gukibau and Johnson to return from injury next week) as well performance from Tom Matthews and Terry Preston in the backline.
