They almost made a meal of it but the Warriors have kept their nerve and their NRL finals hopes alive with a 28-16 win over Wests Tigers in Auckland.
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The Warriors dominated the first half and flattered their bottom-placed opponents by only leading 14-0 at the break on Friday night.
Wests Tigers, having been completely outclassed, scored back-to-back tries to revive the contest, before Addin Fonua-Blake and Dallin Watene-Zelezniak sealed the game with late four-pointers.
The Warriors jumped into 12th, two wins outside the eight, but looked on track to shoot themselves in the foot again, after a hot-and-cold season in which they've been equal parts brilliant and dreadful.
"(The Tigers) were doing things well but we were our own worst enemy," coach Andrew Webster said after fulltime.
"We forced things, we had errors.
"They scored a really good try ... but I'm more worried about why they were down there (in our half)."
The hosts got out to a fast start, with their experienced forwards making light work of the young Tigers pack.
But despite dominating territory and possession, the Warriors were wasteful in attack and were only ahead by four points half an hour into the match.
Prop pairing Mitchell Barnett and Fonua-Blake were among the best for the Warriors.
Fonua-Blake, who finished the game with seven tackle busts and 207 running metres, gave the Warriors an early platform after breaking through the Tigers' line in the opening minutes.
After stacking up the repeat sets, Kurt Capewell skipped past a diving Starford To'a to open the scoring before winger Edward Kosi claimed his side's second.
Warriors five-eighth Chanel Harris-Tavita at first continued his difficult run with the boot, missing both conversion attempts from the sideline after bottling the easiest of levellers against Canberra last weekend.
But after Ali Leiataua dotted next to the posts just before halftime, Harris-Tavita finished smartly to get the monkey off his back, with the relief written across his smiling face.
The 25-year-old went on to make another two conversions and a penalty goal, with each successful attempt greeted by raucous cheers from the Go Media Stadium faithful.
"Sometimes footy can just be too serious, can't it?" Webster said.
"We all had his back last week.
"When he got that one I think the whole of New Zealand was pretty happy for him."
Young fullback Jahream Bula showed why the Tigers rate him as a star of the future, sending Charlie Staines over in the corner with a deft flick pass after Isaiah Papali'i put the visitors on the board.
Tigers captain Api Koroisau again put in a monumental performance in a losing team, busting a lung to get in position to score a consolation try in the final minute.
"I don't like losing but, tell you what, I do love this team," coach Benji Marshall said.
"I love how they fight and I was really proud of them from 14-0 down at halftime to come back, and with 20 minutes to go be 14-10."
Their first season under Marshall effectively over, the Tigers have little left to play for but pride.
Injuries further added to the coach's woes, with teenage winger Luke Laulilii (concussion) and To'a (hamstring) failing to see out the game.
Australian Associated Press
