St George Illawarra Dragons have slumped to a piece of unwanted club history, with a dour 12-4 NRL loss to the Parramatta Eels.
Both sides were wasteful with the ball and failed to impress on Sunday, but the Dragons were again under the pump, after slumping to a 6-13 record for the year.
That equals the club's record for least wins in a season through 19 rounds, set in 2013, and killed off whatever small hope they had of playing finals football.
The Eels built a 10-0 lead at halftime, thanks to tries to Maika Sivo and young Kiwi Dylan Brown, which proved too much for the home side.
The defeat was the Dragons' fifth defeat in a row and they have lost 11 of their past 13 to be in 14th, despite their star-studded roster.
The home side clawed back into the match, when Gareth Widdop flew high to knock back the ball and Mikaele Ravalawa crossed in the corner to make it 10-4 seven minutes after halftime.
But the Eels held on, despite not scoring a try in the second half, to remain in sixth spot.
The Eels were brave in defence, with Brown and Manu Ma'u both pulling off desperate try-savers on Tyson Frizell and Ravalawa respectively.
At one point, the Dragons had four sets of six attacking the Eels' line, but it was defused, when Michael Jennings took an intercept to get his team out of trouble.
Despite having 31 tackles in the Eels red zone - compared to Parramatta's 22 - the Dragons could manage just one try for the afternoon.
Dragons forward Paul Vaughan will come under match review committee (MRC) scrutiny, after being penalised for a crusher tackle on Kane Evans and put on report for another on Brown.
The prop showed plenty of heart, when he attempted to make a tackle on Clint Gutherson, despite having a dislocated finger on his right hand, but he was penalised for his troubles, allowing Mitchell Moses to boot a penalty goal to seal the win.
Dragons centre Euan Aitken (crusher tackle) and Parramatta's Manu Ma'u (high tackle) and Kane Evans (high tackle) will also be looked at by the MRC.
AAP
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