Dragons coach Shane Flanagan has taken aim at the referees after his side’s thrilling loss to Canterbury at Accor Stadium on Saturday.

Lachlan Galvin threw the match-winning pass in the Bulldogs’ 20-18 win to grab all the headlines before Flanagan blamed the referees for taking the game away from the Dragons with a series of questionable calls.

The Dragons held a slender two-point advantage in the final 10 minutes until much-hyped mid-season recruit Galvin broke their hearts with a cut-out ball to Jethro Rinakama in the final 90 seconds.

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Dragons winger Tyrell Sloan was caught in-field and his opposite man Rinakama, in only his second game, slid over to seal a win that puts Galvin’s name up in lights.

But Flanagan was frustrated the Bulldogs had even been in position to score the match-winner after a controversial captain’s challenge call from the bunker.

On review from the Bulldogs, Dragons forward Luciano Leilua was ruled to have crowded Jacob Kiraz in the ruck, leaking a penalty that helped Canterbury move upfield and win the game.

“I was really proud of the effort they put in and the way they played, but the game was taken away from us from I believe wrong decisions,” he said.

“With 10 minutes to go there was a forward pass in the middle part of the field, but the Luciano Leilua decision was outrageous.

“That was five minutes and 30 seconds to go on their 30 or 40-metre line. The player never got to his feet. Ball planted on Luciano ... who doesn’t have to disappear, Luciano can hold his ground.

“He’s got to get to his feet before he plants the ball. It has been the rule all year and it cost us today.

“And then we go downfield from the back of that, Kikau passes the ball, hit Sloan and goes forward, so in the collision, that’s a knock-on. Ever since 100 years, that’s a knock-on and that was at the 78-minute mark.

“As I said, they’re trying so hard. They’re a good side the Bulldogs, they compete hard, but it was some decisions tonight that cost us two competition points and could cost us an opportunity to play semi-finals.”

Flanagan was most incensed by the Leilua decision and wondered what the fallout would be if the same situation happened in the finals.

“The Luciano Leilua one, that was penalty on the field and then the Bunker took it away. And seriously, that one there it riles me more than anything because you have got to get to your feet to play the ball. You’ve got to be balanced,” he said.

“We can see it every week. I get emails from the NRL about things that they’re concentrating on and it is about balance and you can’t fall forward. You can’t be falling sideways. You can’t ball plant.

“But tonight we ball planted and we lost the game because of it. And then the bat on from Kikau and I can go on and on about it, but I’m just so disappointed that we lost the game, not from effort.

“We did some things wrong. We could have gotten them things better, but some other decisions cost us the game, I believe at vital points.

“Five minutes, 30 to go and the 78-minute mark we get possession on our try-line, probably game over.

“And can you imagine if this was a semi-final?” He continued.

“It would be drama. But it’s the Dragons and we’re fighting really hard to stay in touch.

“It should be the same. It should mean the same. It’s two competition points for a side. A group of 17 men in there that went as hard as they could and got it taken away from them.”

Meanwhile, the move to bring Galvin over from Wests Tigers had been questioned as Cameron Ciraldo deliberated how best to use the 20-year-old in a team that had been atop the ladder when he arrived.

But the magic play would’ve felt vindication for the finals-bound Dogs, who look to have delivered the hammer blow to the Dragons’ own top-eight hopes.

Saints are still a mathematical chance but need to claim victory in all of their remaining games to finish the season with a winning record, and face Penrith, Canberra and the Warriors on the run home.

Saturday night was the eighth time this season the Dragons have lost by 10 points or fewer.

They looked home and hosed, stoically defending the Bulldogs on their goal-line in the final minutes having run in the first two tries of the second half.

Clint Gutherson had thrown the last pass to Sione Finau that gave the 11th-placed Dragons an unlikely lead as mid-season recruit Galvin struggled to spark Canterbury after replacing Toby Sexton at halfback.

But with his match-winning play, the former Tiger may well have brought the Bulldogs closer to answering the halves puzzle that appears critical to their premiership chances.

Earlier, Galvin backed his captain Stephen Crichton up on the right side to score his side’s second try, and came close to putting Viliame Kikau over for four-pointers in each stanza.

But Damien Cook made a heroic effort to hold Kikau up over the line, before referee Adam Gee found a knock-on before a Galvin kick found its way to the giant forward.

Finau dislocated his shoulder in the act of scoring the Dragons’ third try, while Bulldogs recruit Sitili Tupouniua hurt his hamstring in his first game back from a lay-off with that same injury.

- With AAP