The Gorillas downed a gallant Kiama 13-12 at Cec Glenholmes Oval on Sunday, after snatching a draw against Nowra-Bomaderry during the previous round.

The home side trailed inside the final 10 minutes, after enjoying the bulk of possession and field position throughout the second stanza.

Despite the scrappy, stop-start nature of play, the close score-line kept the crowd intrigued.

Played in warm conditions, Warilla were hampered by players backing up from the Country Rugby League representative fixture, and also missed some experienced muscle up-front.

Meanwhile, the visitors were without dynamic attacking duo Jack Alexander and Tom Atkins.

It appeared the match would be anything but a hard-fought affair when in just the second minute, Gorillas pivot Jesse Dee passed to back-rower Joel Skeates, who stormed through flimsy defence.

A heavy-hitting arm-wrestle followed, the only other scoring of the opening 40 minutes occurring when the Knights’ Dean Gentle proved too difficult to halt from close range.

Kiama therefore led 6-4 at the oranges, despite momentum favouring the home team.

A spate of Knights infractions resulted in Warilla setting up camp in the opposition’s half of the field.

Although losing the territorial battle, Kiama’s goal-line defence largely held firm, but Warilla regained the lead soon after the resumption when off the back of ill-discipline Lazarevski burrowed over for 10-6.

The trainers were perhaps the busiest people at the ground, multiple players from both outfits going down injured.

After repelling another Gorillas raid, the Knights capitalised on very limited opportunities when a deft Marc Laid inside ball sent prop Jacob Morrison across the stripe and a 12-10 buffer.

The visitors could have been forgiven for believing they were on the verge of clinching an unlikely victory, until an off-side penalty gifted Lazarevski a match-levelling penalty goal.

The bounce of the ball favoured Warilla late, a repeat set enabling Lazarevski to nail the one-pointer to seal the win.

Much of the game wasn’t one for the end-of-season highlight reel, but the Gorillas are now entrenched at the top of the ladder.

Mark Walsh, Dee, Lazarevski and Skeates were the standouts for Warilla, while Cameron Whittaker, Laird, Morrison and Brent Wake were Kiama’s best. 

style='font-family:"Courier New"'>Best for the Sharks were Snell, Rodrigues and Brad Chapman.

While for the Lions Ford, Cronin and Brad Davidson played strong.