Three tries in the final 20 minutes helped Eastern Suburbs claim a 24-22 victory over Manly and consolidate their spot in the congested Intrust Shute Shield top six.

After trailing 22-5 midway through the second half, Easts’ replacement halfback Angus Pulver dived over from close range to level the scores in the 78th minute.

Manly appealed for an obstruction however the try was awarded, allowing flyhalf Archie King to kick the conversion and seal a two point victory.

“We knew they had a huge forward pack that would probably lose some sting late in the match so I was pleased to see our guys stick with them and then get over the top towards the end,” Easts coach Darren Coleman told Rugby News.

“They really choked us at the breakdown in the first half and we couldn’t get any free flowing attack but we knew once they began to tire, that we have good shape and enough strike power to score points.”

While Easts dominated possession and territory early in the match, the home side were unable to crack the Manly defence, before Junior Palau and Richard Hooper crossed within three minutes of one another to give the Marlins a 12 point lead in the 30th minute.

Archie King finished off a well worked backline play to open Easts account shortly after half time, but Manly quickly hit back with a penalty goal and a try to Dennis Pili-Gaitau giving the visitors a 22-5 lead midway through the second half.

Easts centre Josh Toole scored his sides second try in the 65th minute from what appeared to be a forward pass as momentum began to shift towards the home side.

Winger Ratu Tagive crossed in the corner in the 73rd minute, before Pulver dived over between two of his teammates to score the match winning try. Although the Manly players claimed there was an obstruction, the referee ruled that it had no impact on the play.

“I’d imagine the ref wouldn’t have thought he had his best day but I think it went a little bit both ways in that regard,” Coleman said after the match.

“The most pleasing aspect was that we stayed in the game. We were in the game against both Uni and Randwick in the last month and didn’t have the composure to finish it off, so to run Manly down like that was really pleasing.”

“We had a similar result last week where we could of won (against Randwick) but it went the other way so it was good to get the points this week.”

After finishing 10th in 2015, Easts have been one of the big improvers this season and now sit in fifth position with six wins from 10 matches and have claimed a four try bonus point on nine occasions this season.

“I don’t think we are attacking overly well yet, obviously we are scoring more points than we did last year but I don’t think it has fully clicked yet.

“Last year we scored three tries in a lot of games and didn’t quite get the results, whereas this year I think we’ve scored exactly four tries in almost every game and that has probably been the difference.”

However Coleman said his side would not be getting ahead of themselves in what is one of the tightest competitions in recent years.

“I think when you look at the competition this year, any of the top eight can beat one another and even a side like Parramatta are causing upsets so there are going to be a lot of close games and if you can win more than 50% of your close games, you will be in the top end.”

“Our first goal is to make the finals. With the competition being so tight, if you have two losses, then you’re probably sitting down in eighth.

“I think we are a threat to make the playoffs and then if we can work on a few of our weaknesses, we might be able to do something from there.”

Eastern Suburbs play West Harbour in round 11 while Manly host Northern Suburbs.