Steve Orme at Toyota Stadium
Cronulla have celebrated Trent Barrett and Luke Covell's final appearance at Toyota Stadium with a shock 30-16 victory over Gold Coast on Saturday evening.
Having led by two converted tries at the break, the Sharks saw their lead cut to six points when Bodene Thompson scored his second try of the night in the 50th minute.
But with 10,116 Sharks fans willing them home, the Sharks hit back with tries to Tim Smith and Luke Douglas to complete the five-tries-to-three victory
Covell, who opened the scoring for the hosts with an early four pointer, also kicked a perfect five-from-five with the boot to cap a memorable night.
The loss ends Gold Coast's five match winning streak and leaves their top four hopes in jeopardy with one round remaining.
The Titans will remain in the four at the end of the penultimate round but must beat Wests Tigers next weekend to have any hope of hosting a home semi.
It was an unhappy night for former Shark Greg Bird, who was booed on occasions by his former home crowd in his first appearance back at Shark Park since he was sacked by the club in 2008.
It was a dream start for the Sharks who struck first against the run of play in the seventh minute through Covell.
The veteran swooped on an ill-directed cut-out pass from Scott Prince and had just enough pace to beat Prince and Jordan Atkins to bring the Sharks faithful to their feet.
The home crowd had more reason to cheer 10 minutes later when elusive full-back Nathan Gardner completed a wonderful team try.
It all began with Blake Ferguson who beat five Titans defenders and found Gallen who brushed off Bird before delivering a beautiful inside ball for Gardner to score under the posts.
Covell again added the extras to double the Sharks' advantage in the 19th minute.
Having been starved of possession the Titans finally got their hands on the ball in enemy territory and looked to have scored on 23 minutes through Kevin Gordon, but the winger was correctly ruled to have stepped into touch before grounding the ball.
The visitors stayed on the attack and opened their account on the half-hour when Bodene Thompson scored off a Mat Rogers kick, with Prince adding the extras to cut the deficit to 12-6 on the half-hour.
But just as momentum looked to be turning in favour of the Titans, Gallen crashed over from dummy half to send the hosts into the break with a handy 18-6 lead.
The visitors produced one of the tries of the season 10 minutes in to halve the deficit - and again it was Thompson who crossed off a Mat Rogers kick.
Thompson, who started the movement that saw seven Titans players handle the ball, rose above the pack to put his side firmly back in the contest trailing 18-12.
But just as John Cartwright's men looked set to run down the home side, a brilliant chip-and-chase from much maligned half-back Smith restored the Sharks' 12-point lead with 22 minutes remaining.
And when prop Douglas scored on 69 minutes after a brilliant offload from Gallen, victory was assured for the hosts.
Cronulla Sutherland Sharks 30
Tries: Covell, Gardner, Gallen, Smith, Douglas
Goals: Covell 5
Gold Coast Titans 16
Tries: Thompson 2, Atkins
Goals: Prince 2
@ Toyota Stadium, 28/08/10. Crowd: 10,116.