Warriors hero Lewis Brown feared he would be dropped to reserve grade after losing the ball over the try line with five minutes left in Saturday's NRL match against Canterbury at ANZ Stadium.

But after a few anxious moments, Brown more than made up for his error by setting up a match-winning four-pointer in his side's last-gasp 30-24 victory.

Brown could have saved his coach Ivan Cleary the heart trouble when he appeared destined to score in the 75th minute and break the 24-24 deadlock, only to spill the ball over the line.

The Christchurch-born Brown couldn't watch when, with little more than three minutes left on the clock, experienced Bulldogs halfback Brett Kimmorley had all the time in the world to pot a field goal from right in front only to send it wide to the right.

"I was stressing out, I thought I was going to be back in reserve grade next week for mucking up that try," said Brown, who recently re-signed with the club for two more seasons.

"I tell you what, I was standing there watching (Kimmorley's field goal attempt) and I closed my eyes because I didn't want it to go over and lucky enough it went to the right and we went down and we scored in the next set."

In a last-ditch attempt to get a result before the match headed into extra time, Brown, who was filling in at centre, kicked ahead on the Dogs' 30 metre line.

The ball was fumbled by Bulldogs fullback Luke Patten on the 20m line and Brown regathered before popping the ball up in one swift movement for Lance Hohaia to race away under the posts.

"I was actually just trying to kick it into the in-goal to put a bit of pressure on them because I knew Luke Patten was coming forward and no one was behind him," Brown said.

"It showed how much of a non-existent kick it was, it didn't even go over his head, it was just a bad bounce and it happened to go our way.

"I was just trying to make up for five minutes earlier when I dropped the ball over the line, because I knew I had to do something big for the team."

Brown made his NRL debut last year in the second row and also filled in at hooker before being selected in the New Zealand train-on squad for last year's Four Nations.

He again showed his versatility on Saturday night, impressing in the centres after Manu Vatuvei was forced from the field in the 45th minute with hamstring problems.

"I think he's still learning footy but he's got that versatility in him, he can play in that back row, he plays tough and he's got some skill on him as well," said teammate Brent Tate.

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