After having "nothing" go their way in the opening half of the Shute Shield season, the Wildfires have strung consecutives wins together and are starting to believe they can compete with the top teams.

On Saturday, the Wildfires came from 12-7 down at half-time to edge Manly 17-12 at a rain-soaked Manly Oval.

The triumph, their third, followed a 43-11 victory over Western Sydney and moved the Wildfires above the Marlins and West Harbour and into ninth spot on 18 points.

"We haven't recorded consecutives wins before so that is a positive move," Coleman said. "It was reward for all the hard work we have put in. Nothing much has gone right for us so far.

"If we didn't beat Penrith and Western Sydney, you probably ask why we are bothering. Manly is a different story. It gives us the belief that we can compete."

The win was achieved without gun forward OJ Noah and Henry Stowers, who are in camp in New Zealand with Samoa ahead of World Cup qualifiers against Tonga.

"We finally get a bit of momentum and lose two to national duties, which is what we are all for ... it still hurts our depth," Coleman said. "Hooker Phil Bradford looks like he has torn his calf. Chris Ale dislocated and broke his finger in second grade. We have Gordon at Gordon next, then Warringah before a bye. We should get should all the boys back from international duty after that."

Saturday's slugfest was a classic match of two halves.

READ MORE: DIMINUTIVE HALF SET FOR RUN-ON DEBUT

Manly dominated possession and field position against a sloppy Wildfires outfit that put themselves under pressure.

The scrum struggled early, they couldn't win a lineout, their kick chase was poor and handling diabolical.

Winger Harry Emery dived over in the corner in the 20^th minute to open the home side's account.

The one occasion the Wildfires entered the Manly quarter they scored a try. Hooker Phil Bradford crashed over from a driving maul off a lineout. Nate De Thierry converted.

It stayed that way until the 40^th minute when Manly lock Ben Wood crossed from close range for 12-7.

"I delivered some stern words at half-time," Coleman said. "We had one entry into their 22 metres and we scored, yet we still want to run the ball from our own quarter. In the second half, I didn't want us to play any rugby inside our own 60 metres. To their credit, the boys responded and played to the plan. He executed everything we set out to do."

The Wildfires scrum won the battle, Nate De Thierry and Will Feeney kicked deep into Manly territory and they were able to force mistakes through strong defence.

The reward came in the 53rd minute when, after 11 phases replacement prop Faavae Sila powered onto the ball and crashed through three defenders. De Thierry added the extras for a 14-12 lead and then landed a penalty with 10 minutes remaining.

"It was gutsy. The boys really dug in," Coleman said. "Leon Fukofuka went back into halfback and really controlled the game in the last 20 minutes. Even the last three minutes the boys pick and drove in our own 22 to hold the ball. We didn't want to give them a chance."

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