Canterbury five-eighth Matt Burton has shown shades of North Queensland great Jonathan Thurston by bouncing back from a missed conversion attempt to ice a 15-14 defeat of the Cowboys with an extra-time field goal.
After the Bulldogs drew level at 14-14 on Sunday at Accor Stadium, Burton struck the goalposts with a conversion attempt that could have won the game after the siren.
Undeterred, his kicking game and a line break from Josh Addo-Carr put the Bulldogs in position to take one shot at field goal before the first period of extra time expired. It was all the premiership-winner needed.
He slotted his attempt from a wide angle outside the 30-metre line to help the Bulldogs celebrate Josh Reynolds' homecoming in style.
Playing his first game for the Bulldogs since 2017, the mad finish reminded Reynolds of Thurston's performance in the 2015 grand final.
"To miss the kick and then come back, I think an ex-great did that in a grand final once didn't he?" Reynolds said.
"It was just a great game to be a part of."
The Cowboys maintained a slim lead for most of the match and enjoyed the better of first-half chances.
When fill-in fullback Tom Chester crashed over in the 59th minute, the Cowboys' 14-6 lead looked as though it could have been a match-winning one given the tight nature of the game and the greasy conditions.
On their way back into the game, the Bulldogs needed to overcome injuries to Raymond Faitala-Mariner (concussion), Franklin Pele (arm) and Max King (eye).
Rookie Jacob Preston had the best night of his young career and finished with two tries, the second of which was scored after he had the webbing of his hand stitched up.
But it wasn't until Addo-Carr sailed over on the left in the final 45 seconds that the Bulldogs were able to level the scores, having remained on the attack for the final 10 minutes.
Burton's conversion attempt struck the upright -just as Thurston's did in 2015 - and the game went to extra time, where the Bulldogs clinched a gutsy victory.
"It's probably hard to put into words," coach Cameron Ciraldo said when asked how proud he was of the Bulldogs.
"I've been proud of them every week but tonight, with the adversity they had to go through, how they just hung in there, I'm super proud.
"We weren't perfect but I thought we were the better team and deserved to win."
Cowboys coach Todd Payten rued the Cowboys' late fade.
"To lose in extra time like that 80 odd minutes of fighting and scrapping was disappointing," he said.
"But to be fair the game was there to be won for us."
Fan favourite Reynolds entered the game in the 54th minute for his first match for the Bulldogs since leaving to join the Wests Tigers for the 2018 season.
His role in the middle was a far-cry from the five-eighth spot for which he is best remembered by Bulldogs fans, but he brought much-needed energy when the chips were down and finished with 19 tackles.
Jayden Okunbor can expect scrutiny from the match review committee for a hip-drop tackle on Jason Taumalolo that sent the Bulldogs utility to the sin bin in the first half, while teammate Raymond Faitala-Mariner failed his head injury assessment and is set to miss round six.
Taumalolo managed to finish the game despite initially appearing to have hurt his knee in Okunbor's tackle.
Pele will go for scans after suffering a suspected forearm fracture in the second half.
