Cronulla have cemented their place in the NRL top eight after shaking off their off-field woes to record a 18-16 win over Canterbury on Sunday.

The 19,005-strong crowd at Belmore Sports Ground made their feelings known when the Sharks were awarded a contentious penalty goal in front with six minutes on the clock after Valentine Holmes was hit late as he took a shot at field goal by Josh Reynolds.

Holmes converted the penalty which pushed the scores out to 18-10.

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Canterbury skipper James Graham threw his hands in the air in frustration after they lost in remarkably similar circumstances to South Sydney in the now infamous Good Friday clash earlier in the year.

Ultimately, for the second time in as many weeks, young gun Holmes proved the match-winner, scoring what was the decisive try in the 60th minute before sealing it with his penalty conversion.

The Bulldogs scored late via Michael Lichaa but in the wash-up paid for their poor handling, completing just 17 of 36 sets, giving away 13 penalties and committing 15 handling errors.

For the Sharks, it was an important win as they jumped four points clear of ninth-placed St George Illawarra, they also bounced back after star forward Andrew Fifita was accused of abusing a junior referee on the weekend.

Meanwhile, there was nobody more relieved to get out of Penrith with two competition points than Canberra coach Ricky Stuart who broke his long run of outs against the Panthers on Sunday.

The Raiders scored a thrilling 34-24 victory over Penrith at Pepper Stadium to keep in touch with the top eight with six rounds of the NRL season remaining.

For Stuart, it was his first win over the Panthers in six years, ending a losing run that stretched back to when he was in charge of Cronulla in 2009.

Canberra overcame a couple of dubious video refereeing calls to score the win in the 10-try thriller, but Stuart was happy not to discuss officials after his side’s controversial golden-point loss to Cronulla last week.

The Raiders were on the end of a couple of seemingly bad calls in the first half which resulted in tries to Elijah Taylor and Isaah Yeo, with replays suggesting there were knock-ons in the lead up to both tries.

“It’s nice to win a close one. I think either team that lost today would have been disappointed,” Stuart said.

Winger Edrick Lee sealed the victory with four minutes remaining when he charged down a Peter Wallace kick, catching the ball and running about 75 metres as the Panthers suffered a third straight loss.

The victory was soured by star back-rower Josh Papalii being placed on report for a shoulder charge on Nigel Plum who was forced off the field with concussion early in the second half.

Replays appeared to show first contact was from a head clash before Papalii’s shoulder hit the prop.

Plum walked off the field with the assistance of a couple of trainers after refusing to leave the field on a stretcher and Penrith coach Ivan Cleary said the front-rower seemed in good spirits in the Panthers’ dressing room.