A LONG-range field goal from St George Illawarra’s Nathan Dureau has ended the Toyota Cup season for Orange’s Daniel Mortimer and his Parramatta team.

With scores locked at 22-all at Suncorp Stadium on Saturday night, Dureau landed the one-pointer with just 15 seconds remaining on the clock to give the Dragons a nail-biting 23-22 win and set up a preliminary final against Canberra on Friday night.

Both sides traded tries throughout the game and Mortimer finished off a well-executed passage of play from the Eels to help level the scores at 16-all with 20 minutes to play.

The Dragons crossed for the next try before Parramatta again levelled the score with five minutes remaining, before Dureau landed the killer blow in the final minute from nearly 40 metres out.

Mortimer admitted he knew Dureau’s attempt would go over straight off the boot and was still coming to terms with his season being over.

“It was very disappointing. It still hasn’t really sunk in,” Mortimer said.

“We were a bit unlucky. They scored five tries off kicks that were 50-50 and we executed some good tries.”

Nevertheless, the five-eighth thinks Parramatta had a successful year in the inaugural Toyota Cup.

Parramatta’s players improved having played against talented opposition in some of Australia’s premier sporting arenas.

The 19-year-old will be back for the Eels in their 2009 Toyota Cup campaign and the Orange CYMS junior thinks he will be better prepared next year after what he considers to be a successful 2008 personally.

“I think I’ve just gained the experience of playing with crowds and players of that talent and just the professionalism,” Mortimer said.

It will be Mortimer’s last season in the under 20s competition.