‘There’s a fair bit of relief there’

ANDREW McFadden was a relieved man after Shaun Johnson scored a golden-point try against the Panthers at Mt Smart Stadium last night.

After losing three of their past four games in golden-point time, to go down again in the same manner last night might have been catastrophic for the Warriors’ confidence.

But up stepped Johnson with a stunning try against the Penrith Panthers in the 89th minute at Mount Smart Stadium to give his side two crucial points.

‘‘There’s a fair bit of relief there, I’m very happy for the players,’’ McFadden said. ‘‘It’s been a challenging month, we’ve been consistent, competing hard in every game in the last two months, and that’s what we want to do. That’s how we want to get respect as a footy team.

‘‘Tonight we needed that bit of luck to go our way to set us off.’’

McFadden admitted feeling ‘‘here we go again’’ when regulation time ended with the scores locked at 16-16.

‘‘That’s our fourth golden point in five matches, we’re getting use to it,’’ he said.

‘‘I thought we were really dominant. The opposition scrambled and just held us short four or five times. Then we gave them some soft ones and that’s the only reason they got back into it.’’

While Johnson’s try will go down as one of the standout moments of the season, the Warriors were far from clinical in golden-point time last night.

‘‘[We were] probably a little scrappy,’’ McFadden said. ‘‘I think both teams were.’’

Warriors captain Ryan Hoffman said they handled the pressure. ‘‘We got ourselves in positions but I didn’t feel like we panicked.’’