Illawarra suffered a disappointing 24-22 loss to the Blacktown Workers Sea Eagles at WIN on Saturday afternoon.
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The hosts were bolstered by the return of rake Siliva Havilliand centre Taane Milne while WIll Matthews and Blake Lawrie backed up after featuring for the Dragons in their loss to the Broncos less than 24 hours prior.
Illawarra raced to a 10-0 lead on the back of tries to Jai Field and Pat Herbert and led 16-6 Kalifa Fai Fai Loa touched down out wide. Peter Schuster and Jordan Hall got on the sheet for the visitors narrow the deficit to 16-12 at the break.
Jonathan Wright scored first for the visitors after the resumption before Herbert bagged his double to put his side back in front.
The Sea Eagles retook the lead through Joey Lussick with the visitors good enough to defend it to the final whistle.
It leaves Illawarra needing to defeat the Bulldogs next weekend at WIN Stadium to feature in the Intrust Super Premiership finals.