Bulldogs coach Kevin Moore believes the NRL club has answered critics who've questioned its squad depth with a thrilling 18-14 win over the Warriors in Auckland on Sunday.

The high-flying Bulldogs were missing over half their team that lost 19-12 to Manly last week but still had enough quality to snatch a thrilling win and end any hope the Warriors had of making the top eight.

Young gun Ben Barba scored the try which reclaimed the lead with just a minute left on the clock to keep the Bulldogs near the top of the table.

Without stars Brett Kimmorley, Michael Ennis and Josh Morris through State of Origin duty, Ben Hannant and Jamal Idris due to injury and Greg Eastwood and Bryson Goodwin because of suspension it was always going to be a major test for the Bulldogs squad.

And Moore had no doubt it augured well for their finals prospects.

"It was a tremendous performance on the back of the week we've had," Moore said.

"There were eight blokes from last week that didn't play.

"It just shows the club has come a long way this year with regard to the style of football we're playing.

"I know some people may have criticised our depth on the back of last year, but I think we put that to bed today with Michael Sullivan, Tim Winitana, Matt Utai and those sorts of blokes coming in, they're first graders when they get a shot, what they've got to do is do it consistently.

"But I was really happy for them today and they did a great job for the club."

If the Bulldogs had lost, Moore would have had a ready made excuse with so many players out but he said he always believed his team could get the win.

"We were positive, we expected to come over here and play strongly and we knew we'd be right in the contest.

"What this does is give you confidence from here through to the back end of the year, that if you get a couple of injuries here and there, we know we've got the people to handle the situation."

The struggling Warriors have won just five games and have now gone 10 games in a row without scoring more than 14 points.

Coach Ivan Cleary said the match was a reflection of their 2009 campaign.

"Not being able to convert points, making pretty poor errors when we had them under pressure and we couldn't defend those errors tonight, particularly when it really counted at the back end of the game," said Cleary.

"It doesn't all add up to winning performances."

While the Warriors were without their Queensland Origin star Steve Price, they did have influential Manu Vatuvei back from a hamstring strain.

And it was Vatuvei who made his presence felt in the fourth minute by receiving a behind-the-back pass from Joel Moon and running in a few metres to score.

With three minutes in the half remaining the Bulldogs scored, but they needed luck and Luck for it.

Brad Morrin's pass on the Warriors' 10m line bounced off Micheal Luck's knee and when the ball bounced in goal Bulldogs hooker Sullivan was the first to it.

The Bulldogs started off the second half where they finished off the first with fullback Luke Patten scoring a great solo try, easily getting past Stacey Jones by throwing a dummy.

However Kevin Locke and Russell Packer scored midway through the second half for the Warriors to take a 14-12 lead.

But there was one more big play left in the Bulldogs, inspired by a break from Winitana down the right wing and when the ball was quickly moved to the other side Barba raced in to score the winner.

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