Dragons shock Huddersfield in play-offs
The Galpharm Stadium witnessed a Super League shock
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By Richard James. |  |
Friday, 25, Sep 2009 10:42
By Martyn Thomas.
Catalans Dragons are just 80 minutes from making history after they beat Huddersfield 16-6 in the preliminary semi-final at the Galpharm Stadium.
Trailing 6-4 at the break, the Dragons booked their place in the last four with second-half tries from Dimitri Pelo and Olivier Elima. They will now face either Leeds Rhinos or St Helens in next week's qualification semi-final.
Match-winner Elima praised his teammates resolve: "Plenty of people thought we had luck against Wakefield. We wanted to prove a point, we showed it and anything can happen from here."
A lacklustre first half was brought to life when man of the match Clint Greenshields smashed over to put the visitors 4-0 up.
However, the lead didn't last long and Huddersfield were in front by the break after Luke Robinson showed great skill to score. Hodgson added the extras.
Huddersfield's form has stuttered since their losing appearance in the Challenge Cup final and their players began to look short on ideas in the second half as the Dragons' defence took control.
The French side took the lead in the 62nd minute when Pelo collected his own kick and chase to go over in the corner under pressure. Thomas Bosc kicked the conversion.
Catalans sealed their historic victory when Elima capped an excellent passing move nine minutes from time and Bosc's conversion put the game out of reach.
The Dragons will learn who they'll face in the qualification semi-final on Sunday when Leeds make their ClubCall announcement.
The match marked a remarkable turnaround for Catalans who only scraped into the play-offs after losing six of their first seven regular season games.
Man of the match Greenshields said: "The last couple of games we've shown we're play-off material." On this form they might just be a bit more.