Undermanned Brisbane have overcome several key absences to condemn Gold Coast to a seventh straight NRL defeat.
The Broncos, missing State of Origin quartet Corey Oates, Pat Carrigan, Kurt Capewell and Selwyn Cobbo as well as injured pair Payne Haas and Cory Paix, defeated the Titans at CBUS Super Stadium 16-12 to move back to fifth on the ladder.
"These games are always tough," Broncos coach Kevin Walters said.
"I just liked our tenacity there over the back end ... our defence really stood up well.
"Nice to get through this Origin period with a couple of wins as well."
Despite an improved effort on their last start against Newcastle, the four-point defeat will only heap more pressure on Titans coach Justin Holbrook with his team second-last having won just three matches in 2022.
"Just a couple too many errors," Holbrook said.
"Came as close as you can get without winning the game of footy, that's for sure."
Brisbane started the brighter of the two teams but it was the Titans who dominated after finding their groove midway through the first half.
Livewire fullback AJ Brimson, who finished the game with 244 running metres, sparked the opening try of the match when he ran clear after plucking a kick off the ground out of the air.
Despite Brimson being reined in 25m from the tryline, Gold Coast made the most of their field position when Tanah Boyd pounced on a Toby Sexton grubber kick to score.
Gold Coast showed great resilience to deny a Broncos' raid with two minutes to go, including stopping former captain Ryan James when he threatened to barrel over from close range.
But the visitors weren't to be denied and got themselves level right on the siren through winger Delouise Hoeter.
Jordan Riki's slick work to recover a loose kick allowed the Broncos to spread the ball to their left where Adam Reynolds' cut-out pass found Hoeter, who crossed in the corner.
Gold Coast came out firing at the start of the second half with Erin Clark and Herman Ese'ese in particular catching the eye.
That impressive start was rewarded in the 44th minute when Jaimin Jolliffe crashed over to restore the Titans' six-point lead.
An error by David Fifita gave the Broncos the chance to bounce back and they didn't waste the opening, Jordan Pereira crossing the line in the 49th minute.
The Broncos hit the front for the first time five minutes later when Tyson Gamble's offload close to the line allowed Reynolds to score.
Zac Hosking thought he'd scored his first NRL try to extend the Broncos' lead in the 64th minute only for a video referee review to rule out the effort.
Phillip Sami believed he had got the Titans level in the 70th minute after getting on the end of another Toby Sexton grubber but replays showed the centre had lost control of the ball just before grounding it and the try was disallowed.
Teenage debutant Sosefo Fifita's 60m run in the 74th minute from his own in-goal gave the home fans hope but the Titans couldn't turn the 19-year-old's break into points as their losing run continued.
The Broncos travel to Sydney to play Parramatta next Thursday while Gold Coast are also headed to Commbank Stadium, playing Canterbury next Sunday.
