Two monumental blunders by the Eels just after half-time have helped Manly emerge from a poor start to finish 26-20 victors and keep their slim minor premiership hopes alive at Parramatta Stadium on Saturday night.
The Eels were obviously stung by the humiliation of their record 50-point drubbing at the hands of the Rabbitohs just five days ago and they played like a team possessed in the first half to take a richly-deserved 14-6 lead into the break.
But the game turned on its head in the 10 minutes after the resumption, with a horror Jarryd Hayne pass and catastrophic Chris Hicks' fumble from a kick-return both resulting in gift tries to Manly centre Steve Matai.
The Eels never recovered from those costly howlers, with the Sea Eagles holding onto their lead to take the victory and remain four points behind the first-placed Melbourne on the ladder with just three premiership rounds to play.
It was a fitting result for second-rower Anthony Watmough, who notched his 200th game for the club and coach Des Hasler who reached the same number of games at the helm of his beloved Sea Eagles.
Manly half-back Daly Cherry-Evans continued his dream rookie season with another man-of-the-match performance that consisted of a try to open the Sea Eagles' account and a brilliant second-half try-assist.
The Eels opened the scoring in the fifth minute thanks to a Luke Burt penalty goal, following a high shot from Sea Eagles back-rower Shane Rodney on Parramatta prop Fuifui Moimoi.
Manly's ill-discipline early cost them another two points in the 10th minute when Burt’s left boot was called upon again to take full advantage of a penalty within kicking range.
The ordinary Sea Eagles made their sixth error in the 18th minute and it proved costly, with centre Matai's ill-directed dummy-half pass in his own 20 being quickly seized upon by Eels winger Chris Hicks, who muscled free from three defenders to put the ball on the chalk.
Burt was spot on from the sideline and last week's embarrassments were up 10-0 against a team some pundits believe can make the grand final.
But the Sea Eagles finally clicked into gear on 23 minutes when a superb dummy then pass from Cherry-Evans bamboozled the left-edge Eels' defence, allowing skipper Jamie Lyon to find space.
Cherry-Evans backed up nicely to claim the try and when Lyon's sideline conversion snuck over; the visitors were just four points in arrears.
The Eels were in danger of losing their way over the next period of the game, but somehow rediscovered their early desire to post their second try in the 32nd minute.
A couple of power-charged hit-ups from their forwards put the Sea Eagles on the back foot for Parramatta to execute a slick left edge play which saw Burt put winger Ryan Morgan over in the left corner with a sweetly-timed pass.
The Eels took an eight-point lead into the break, but it could have been more had centre Ben Smith held onto another well-directed Burt pass with the line in sight in the shadows of half-time.
Just four minutes after the break, Hayne paid the price for a lazy no-look pass in front of his own goal-posts, with Matai untidily picking up the scraps to score under the posts.
Lyon's conversion had the Sea Eagles trailing 14-12.
The horrendous post-break blunders continued for the Eels and Matai was once