A Luke Burt penalty goal eight minutes into extra time has handed Parramatta its first win of the NRL season, a 22-20 victory over Wests Tigers at Parramatta Stadium.

In the first golden-point clash of the year, Burt slotted over the goal from 40 metres out after Tigers lock Dene Halatau was ruled offside by referee Steve Clark.

A dubious penalty two minutes before the end of regulation time had allowed the visitors to tie it up at 20-all when Daniel Wagon was ruled to have taken out Robbie Farah in front of his own posts.

The win eases the pressure on under fire Eels coach Michael Hagan, while the 2005 premiers are now 0-3 and facing a trip to Townsville to take on premiership favourites North Queensland next week.

Down 14-12 at the break, after a pair of fortuitous first half tries for the home side, the Tigers pressed hard after the restart only to hand ascendency back to Parramatta via three straight penalties.

The third one proved the costliest, Dene Halatau sin binned for holding onto Eels interchange Feleti Mateo on his own tryline in a tough call by Clark.

Looking like they were the ones playing with a one-man advantage, the Tigers found easy yards up the middle as Farah took off, his bid to put Marshall away under the posts curtailed when PJ Marsh took out the Kiwi five-eighth before he had received the ball.

Marsh subsequently earned ten minutes rest in the bin for the indiscretion.

Down by two points, the Tigers declined an easy penalty goal attempt, and it backfired when a Tim Smith grubber down the other end of the park put Feleti Mateo over for his first NRL try.

For the third time in the half, the Tigers carved up the Eels defence and it proved third time lucky, Liam Fulton's bust capitalised on by Marshall who dummied and dived over from dummy half to make it 20-18 with 16 minutes remaining.

Again the Tigers pressed hard with a Robbie Farah chip and Marshall flick pass putting the visitors in position to secure the game-tying penalty.

The two teams were unable to be separated after the first five minutes of extra time, with Marshall and Farah missing with field goal attempts for the Tigers and Burt failing for the Eels.

The Eels had been anything but deserved leaders at the halftime break after two lucky tries in the space of four minutes handed them a two-point advantage.

Tigers front rower Keith Galloway showed remarkable strength to carry three Eels defenders over the line before Parramatta quickly returned with a double serve from Joel Reddy and Tim Smith against the run of play.

A Bronson Harrison try to the Tigers 30 seconds before the break cut the lead to just two points.

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