Melbourne delivered the cruellest of defeats over St George Illawarra with a try after fulltime snatching 28-24 win at AAMI Park on Monday night.

The Dragons looked to have victory in their keeping after holding out wave after wave of desperate Storm attacks.

But the Storm kept pressing and with the ball played by Young Tonumaipea as the full-time siren sounded, it was spread across the field and back again in frantic fashion before the winger dived over in the corner for a stunning match-winner.

The result meant the Storm ended their run of two losses and stretched the Dragons’ streak to three successive defeats.

The once impenetrable Melbourne fortress looked decidedly shaky until that final try after falling to Gold Coast last round.

Again it was errors – both in attack and defence – that cruelled many of their chances.

Trailing 24-10 midway through the second half, the Storm finally found some spark to score two quick tries to get back to within two points with nine minutes remaining.

It looked like they would fall short, but instead, St George Illawarra remain winless in Melbourne since 1999.

The game marked the return of former Storm five-eighth Gareth Widdop and while he impressed, the backs outside him starred.

NSW State of Origin fullback Josh Dugan, who is on the comeback from a knee injury, had a mixed bag.

The Storm targetted him with their kicking game and in the first half the pressure reaped rewards.

He let the home side score their second try when he slid under a Billy Slater kick, allowing Will Chambers to snatch the ball for the easiest of tries.

That gave Melbourne a 10-4 lead but the match was tied up when Slater himself spilt a bomb that allowed the Dragons to send the ball wide for winger Brett Morris to touch down.

Chambers then gave the Dragons a chance for the halftime lead when he was put on report for a shoulder charge that flattened Dugan, with Widdop on target with the penalty kick.

St George Illawarra came out firing in the second half and after a break by Dugan, Gerard Beale and Morris again combined with Beale taking the points this time.

Soon after the lead was out to 14 points after Storm winger Sisa Waqa dropped a kick cold that was pounced on by Trent Merrin for another try.

It looked like the Dragons would romp home but two Storm tries, scored by Chambers and Cronk in three minutes, gave them the chance to set up the heart-stopping finish.