The Warriors have left Canterbury rooted to the bottom of the NRL ladder with a gritty 20-14 comeback win at ANZ Stadium.

Three unanswered tries in a 13-minute blitz midway through the second half were enough to revive the Warriors’ finals hopes.

The uninspiring victory dragged the New Zealand outfit to within four competition points of the top eight.

Mathematically, the Warriors are still in the hunt after eighth-placed Cronulla’s heavy loss to Penrith on Friday night.

But they still must win their five remaining games and hope other results go their way, an unlikely scenario but where there’s life there’s hope.

For Canterbury this was another opportunity lost in their seemingly endless quest to climb above hapless Brisbane on the ladder.

They say losing’s a habit and it certainly is for the Bulldogs, who have frankly forgotten how to win.

Winless since upsetting Newcastle in round 11, the Dogs have now lost six games this season by six points or less, including four of their past five.

The writing looked on the wall from the kick-off when Nick Meaney booted the ball out on the full to gift the Warriors a penalty.

But Canterbury rebounded brilliantly with two dazzling tries in the opening quarter of an hour.

First Meaney atoned for his early error when he dived over in the left-hand corner after receiving a clever flick pass from Tim Lafai.

Then Jeremy Marshall-King split the Warriors defence to put Kieran Foran over untouched – and suddenly it was 10-0.

Jack Murchie put the Warriors back into the contest with a 29th-minute try, only for Will Hopoate to bag Canterbury’s third soon after halftime.

But two tries in two minutes from the Warriors, to Adam Pompey and then Murchie, turned the game on its head.

The bunker denied livewire halfback Paul Turner, who was excellent on debut, twice in three minutes as the Warriors continued to dominate.

But, try as they might, there was no coming back for Canterbury when skipper Roger Tuivasa-Sheck strode over in the 61st minute for the Warriors’ match winner.