A 75th minute try to five-eighth Jacob Grant has seen the Burleigh Bears overcome the Tweed Heads Seagulls at Pizzey Park.
The Coast-2-Coast Bycroft Cup XXXX Rivalry Round clash lived up to the hype as the Tweed Seagulls took the Bears to the limit.
The Seagulls held a 20-18 lead for the majority of the second half before Burleigh snatched victory at the death.
In what was a tightly contested match from start to finish it was the Bears who struck first through prop Kailem Perkins in the sixth minute.
The Seagulls hit back shortly after through fullback Ricardo Parata but the Bears extended their lead again in the 22nd minute when Dimitri Pelo went over from dummy half.
Zac Friend scored next for the Seagulls but the Bears had an eight point lead at the break thanks to Pelo’s second try in the 34th minute.
Pelo, who would normally play at fullback or on the wing, was tremendous coming out of dummy half for the Bears and his electric speed was a constant threat.
When play resumed in the second half it was the Seagulls who managed to make the most of their opportunities.
Halfback Michael Burgess, who was Bycroft Cup player of the year in 2012 and emerged as an Intrust Super Cup regular for Tweed last year, went over in the 45th minute while Daniel Kelly gave his side the lead shortly thereafter.
From there the game became a real grind as the Seagulls hung on and the Bears looked for the decisive try.
It eventually came for the home side five minutes from time giving them an important win.
The win means Burleigh hangs on to a share of the competition lead with Tugun and Southport while the Seagulls sit two points back in fourth spot.
In other fifth round Coast-2-Coast Bycroft Cup results Tugun thumped Currumbin 56-18, Southport claimed the Ross Bycroft Memorial Shield with a 42-24 win over Bay and Bilambil edged Cudgen 26-20.
BURLEIGH BEARS 24 (Pelo 2, K. Perkins, J. Grant tries W. Wahini 4 goals) def TWEED HEADS SEAGULLS 20 (R. Parata, D. Kelly, M. Burgess, Z. Friend tries K. Kalo 2 goals) at Pizzey Park.
