Canberra have kept their faint finals hopes alive with a thrilling golden-point victory over St George Illawarra.

In a dour affair, the Raiders ran out 18-14 winners in front of 10,977 fans at GIO Stadium on Friday night.

A 40-20 kick from Raiders halfback Aidan Sezer in extra time set up the victory with Elliott Whitehead crossing for the match-winning try from a Dave Taylor pass.

The win snapped a four-game losing streak for the Raiders and denied the Dragons their fifth consecutive victory over Canberra.

After losing six games by a converted try or less and three in golden point, the nail-biting win was a welcome turnaround for the Green Machine.

Both teams have injury concerns out of the match and Raiders forward Josh Papalii could face a suspension for a shoulder charge.

Dragons forward Russell Packer left the field early with a suspected hip injury and couldn’t return despite a pain-killing injection.

Raiders bench forward Luke Bateman failed a concussion test after a head clash with Kurt Mann who returned after the incident.

A leg injury ended Canberra prop Shannon Boyd’s night.

With the Dragons leading 10-6 at the break, skipper Gareth Widdop extended the lead to 12-6 through a penalty goal soon after halftime.

Papalii was lucky not have been sent to the sin bin for a heavy shoulder charge on Josh Dugan which forced the former Raider to have a concussion test.

Minutes later, Sezer intercepted a Widdop pass and ran almost the length of the field to score a brilliant solo try on the hour mark, with Croker adding the extra points to make it 12-12.

Raider skipper Croker put the Raiders in front with a little more than 15 minutes remaining, slotting a penalty goal from 29m out.

Widdop levelled the scores at 14-14 with his second penalty goal five minutes later to set up a dramatic finish.

Widdop missed two field goal attempts in the dying minutes, while Sezer and Raiders five-eighth Blake Austin were also astray with their efforts to secure a one-pointer.

Nene Macdonald set up Gareth Widdop for the Dragons’ opening try, while Widdop was instrumental in putting Jason Nightingale in during the first half.

Raiders winger Nick Cotric scored the opening try of the game to continue his superb debut season.

Former Raider Paul Vaughan had an outstanding night against his old club, while Raiders big man Dave Taylor had an impact off the bench.