A late Lote Tuqiri try, coupled with an Adam Reynolds field goal, has helped South Sydney secure a vital 21-14 win in a niggling NRL clash with Canterbury at ANZ Stadium on Thursday night.
The Bulldogs enjoyed the ascendancy for much of the contest, and Souths didn't hit the lead until a Reynolds long ball put the dual-international over in the 73rd minute.
Reynolds had forced a line drop out for a repeat set after Trent Hodkinson kicked out on the full to give the Rabbitohs valuable field position.
The Bunnies' halfback converted Tuqiri's try from the sideline, landed a penalty goal minutes later and then sealed the win with a 78th minute field goal.
The win pushes Souths to the top of the NRL ladder, while the Bulldogs are yet to be assured of a finals spot.
After leading 12-6 at halftime, a 54th minute Hodkinson penalty goal was all Canterbury could muster.
Sam Burgess starred for the Rabbitohs, alongside Reynolds, despite struggling with a hip injury. The Englishman scored two tries, the second shortly after halftime to lock the scores up at 12-all.
Greg Inglis also struggled with a hip injury throughout the match.
After Josh Jackson dropped a Hodkinson kick over Souths' tryline in the third minute, the Bulldogs opened the scoring soon after.
Mitch Brown crossed in the seventh minute when Moses Mbye exploited a Souths defensive shortage on the blind side and Josh Morris skipped away before dishing off to the winger.
Moments before Souths hooker Issac Luke had been put on report for lashing out at Michael Ennis in the play the ball on the Dogs' line - a crucial momentum turnaround.
Canterbury enjoyed the better of most of the first half, beating Souths at their own power game in the middle of the ruck, with James Graham continually carting the Steeden forward for the Dogs.
Ennis harangued Reynolds throughout the match, at one point the playmaker losing his cool in the second half after the Bulldogs rake pushed him in the face.
Four successive penalties allowed the visitors to mount some sustained pressure and a Luke Keary short ball put Sam Burgess over in the 28th minute to square the score at 6-all, with Ennis making the goal line miss on the rugby-bound international.
But in his final home game for the Dogs, the Cronulla-bound Ennis made amends just four minutes later when he burrowed his way over from dummy half for the home side to lead 12-6 at the break.
Reynolds was also put on report for a 59th minute lifting tackle on Moses Mbye.
Souths coach Michael Maguire paid tribute to his side's perseverance.
"It was scrappy, we were not as controlled as we wanted to be in the first half. There was some dropped ball there but the boys stuck at it and in the second half we built the pressure we had talked about," he said.
"We applied a lot of pressure in the second half and came away with the win."
Maguire declined to talk about the incidents involving Reynolds and Luke that were put on report but saved special praise for his halfback.
"That is how he has been growing," he said.
"He probably hasn't been that happy with his game over the last few weeks but with him and Luke Keary leading us around that is what we are capable of."
Dogs coach Des Hasler was livid at the referees, especially for holding up play for an injury to Chris McQueen before Hodkinson kicked the ball out on the full.
"I thought the refereeing was poor, very, very poor," he said.
"They will need more than a bunker to fix this mob."
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