TITANS coach John Cartwright says the vocal Suncorp Stadium crowd's heckling of referee Ben Cummins may have swung Friday night's local derby Brisbane's way.

The Broncos dealt the Titans' finals hopes a knockout blow with a 25-21 golden-point win, after the visitors took a 14-6 lead to the break.

The Titans were all over Brisbane in the first half and seemed to get every line-ball call from Cummins, who was given a hot reception from the 39,757-strong crowd when he walked off the field at half-time.

It was a different story in the second half, with Brisbane picking up the tempo and the penalties before virus-stricken skipper Darren Lockyer produced a freakish play in extra time to break a 21-21 deadlock.

Asked later if he thought the big crowd had got to Cummins, a disappointed Cartwright replied: "Someone did. We didn't get a penalty probably from the 35th-minute mark and I didn't see much of a change in the tempo of the game, [or in] the way we were playing."

Cartwright felt his side, led by halfback Scott Prince and fullback Preston Campbell, had been the better team on the night, making the loss hard to stomach.

"They're shattered," he said. "There's nothing you can really say.

"We sit there and watch and go through the heartbreak but they're the ones feeling the pain and when you lose like that, the pain is a lot worse."

Broncos coach Wayne Bennett didn't take exception to Cartwright saying his side was better on the night.

"I'm just happy to get the two points - I would have been happy to take one point," he said. "I won't argue with him."

Bennett was still pleased with his side's performance.

"I saw a whole lot of little things with different players to give me a bit of confidence going forward," he said.