Canberra halfback Jamal Fogarty admits he feels sorry for Wests Tigers after kicking a last-gasp penalty goal that allowed the Raiders to stave off their comeback and seal victory on Friday night.
Down 18-0 with 12 minutes to play at Campbelltown Stadium, the Tigers scored three tries in four minutes to draw level and then took the lead through a Luke Brooks field goal.
As Fogarty attempted a one-pointer of his own, Tigers second-rower Isaiah Papali’i ran in for a charge-down but collected the halfback’s legs and conceded a penalty for dangerous contact.
The indiscretion allowed Fogarty to shoot for penalty goal and win the game for the Raiders but the halfback admitted the victory felt a hollow one.
“To be honest, it feels like we lost,” Fogarty told AAP.
“We got very lucky in the end.
“For them, it’s so heartbreaking but for us it’s a bit of a relief. We escaped there. I definitely feel for them, they’re just going for a charge down. They’re competing, they’re doing their job.”
Fogarty said the last-minute nature of the penalty, and the fact his field goal attempt had missed, combined to rub salt into the wound.
“If it’s before half-time, you could probably live with it, but a minute to go,” he said.
“It probably made it worse too, because I missed it. For them, they probably thought they’d got the win.”
Ahead of next week’s clash with the Warriors, the Raiders will review their last-minute collapse, which was prompted by Tom Starling’s sin-binning for repeated infringements.
It marked the fourth time this year the Raiders won despite scoring fewer second-half tries than their opponent.
“We were in control for 70 minutes there and fell into a very deep and dark hole in the last 12 minutes of play,” Fogarty said.
“It’s something we need to address moving forward to next week. But we’ll take any win.”