AFTER watching his side and his playmaker go down against the resurgent Rabbitohs, Nathan Hindmarsh was asked for his summation of the situation.

The Parramatta skipper didn't mince his words.

"Up s--- creek, mate," he said.

"We've got one paddle left.

"If we lose that, we're in strife."

Asked what that one paddle was, he replied: "Feleti Mateo."

The Eels' premiership aspirations took another significant hit at ANZ Stadium last night, when the NRL's cardiac kids, South Sydney, staged another comeback to record their longest winning streak in 14 years.

To make matters worse for the Eels, five-eighth Mateo suffered a medial ligament strain to his right knee and lateral ligament damage to his right ankle. The best-case scenario is he'll be back for Friday's must-win game against Manly at Brookvale. The worst case - Hindmarsh summed up what it would mean to the Eels' season rather eloquently.

Mateo came off the field with the scores locked at 16-16 in the 51st minute - he hobbled back out 10 minutes later just in time to watch Souths winger Shannon Hegarty steal the lead, an advantage the Rabbitohs didn't relinquish.

The Eels' hopes of crawling out of their slump could hinge on tomorrow's scan results.

"It doesn't feel too bad, I'll have to wait and see what happens," Mateo said.

"You never can tell. Sometimes they say if you feel nothing they say it's worse."

Asked if he feared he would worsen the injury by returning to the field, the Tongan international said: "I just wanted to come on and play footy, I don't care if I broke my leg."

Hindmarsh admitted the Eels' chance of making the finals if Mateo was sidelined for a lengthy period were slim.

"It's going to be difficult for us," he said. "This year he's been our standout player, sets up most of our tries and scores a lot himself.

"In saying that, I've seen some teams rally when their best player is out, hopefully it will go that way."

While it was all doom and gloom in the Eels sheds, the Rabbitohs deserve full credit for continuing their resurrection - the Rabbitohs have recorded their longest winning streak in 14 years and severely dented Parramatta's premiership aspirations in another come-from-behind victory.

After overcoming 24- and 16-point deficits in successive weeks, the Bunnies again proved themselves the NRL's cardiac kids after giving the Eels an early 10-point start.

The Rabbitohs have raised hopes of an unlikely finals appearance. And the common denominator in all of those wins as been the presence of Chris Sandow.

The lightweight halfback is yet to taste defeat in the top grade and was again instrumental in the latest win.

The Eels skipped away to a 10-0 lead after just 13 minutes, but the Rabbitohs levelled the scores by the half-hour mark with two tries of their own.

On both occasions they received the benefit of the doubt from video referee Paul Simpkins. Centre Beau Champion scored the first after a Scott Geddes offload put Nathan Merritt into space.

Jamie Simpson crossed for the first of his two tries shortly afterwards, pouncing on a grubber kick from Sandow.

There was no doubt about Simpson's second - he crossed five minutes before the break after accepting a long ball from Sandow.

SOUTH SYDNEY 32 (J Simpson 2 B Champion S Hegarty I Luke S McPherson tries I Luke 3 C Sandow goals) bt PARRAMATTA 20 (K Inu 2 J Hayne M Riddell tries L Burt 2 goals) at ANZ Stadium. Referee: M Cecchin. Crowd: 17,897.