Trailing 22-10 with 15 minutes to play, the hosts looked set to suffer yet another disappointing loss to the side that has become their bogey team in recent years.

That all changed thanks to a brilliant Adam Clune bomb, the Bulldogs unable to secure the football before Jason Saab found himself in possession, the winger crossing to cut the gap to six points.

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A Dragons error handed the visitors an opportunity to ice the game, however it was one they were not able to take.

St George Illawarra made their opponents pay, Clune darting past a tired Aidan Tolman before linking up with Matt Dufty who crossed to cut the gap to two. Up stepped Zac Lomax, who levelled the scores with a conversion form out wide.

In an afternoon in which it looked like the Bulldogs would grind out an ugly win, suddenly it was the Dragons who were full of running.

A Ben Hunt kick from dummy half flipped the field, before Lachlan Lewis kicked the ball directly into Cameron McInnes' head, a handover leaving St George Illawarra back on the attack and searching for the tiebreaker.

It was Norman who took the shot at field goal, however the kick sailed wide to the left.

Moments later however, the Bulldogs conceded another error, this one proving costly.

An knock on by Marcelo Montoya saw the ball bounce into Norman's hands, the five-eighth racing 40 metres to score the match-winning try in the final minute of the game.

Lomax converted from straight in front to secure a 28-22 victory in front of 1619 fans at WIN Stadium.

St George Illawarra coach Paul McGregor was pleased to get the two points, but acknowledged his side's performance was not up to standard.

"The pleasing thing was when we needed to find points, we found 18 points in 15 minutes," McGregor said.

"Which is a really good sign for the team to know if we play the right footy for long periods of time, we'll get the reward at the end of the game. We did that last week as well.

"We had a really poor 15 minutes in that first half. But you take the wins don't you, every win's important. Those two points are priceless."

The eventful ending came after what was largely a dour affair, with both sides struggling to capitalise on opportunities.

St George Illawarra started the match on top, crossing just 58 seconds into the game, Lomax plucking a bomb out of the air before linking up with Dufty, who scored the fastest try in the NRL this season.

Euan Aitken made it 10-0 seven minutes later after he burst through some weak Canterbury defence and it appeared as though St George Illawarra were on their way to a convincing victory.

That dominant start proved a false down, however, with the Bulldogs quickly gaining the ascendancy and controlling the final 25 minutes of the first half.

Repeated errors handed the visitors attacking field position and some soft Dragons defence allowed Canterbury to run in three consecutive tries.

A penalty for a Tariq Sims late shot on Kieran Foran, which could see the backrower facing time on the sidelines, saw the Bulldogs take a 20-10 lead into the sheds.

Foran would play no further part in the game, the five-eighth passing his concussion test but succumbing to a foot injury.

McGregor was left frustrated at what was a poor passage of play from his side, the coach dismayed a 10-point lead very quickly turned into a 10-point deficit.

"I was very disappointed with the 15 minute period (at the end of the first half). Our leaders, our more experienced players were the ones guilty, so we need to fix that, and they know that, they're experienced enough to get it right."

The Dragons were the better side for much of the second 40, however numerous errors prevented the hosts from narrowing the margin, with Jason Saab dropping the ball over the try line.

Another Bulldogs penalty goal extended the margin to 12, before Saab made no mistake with his second attempt at grounding to cut the margin to six with 15 minutes to play.

That try proved to be a turning point, the Dragons controlling the remainder of the match before eventually securing a six-point victory.

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