The Warriors resisted two Tigers fightbacks to hang on for a vital victory at FMG Stadium Waikato in Hamilton on Saturday night.
Despite looking likely winners all night, the Warriors only sealed the win with their fifth try through prop Addin Fonua-Blake four minutes from fulltime.
The five-tries-to-four win consolidated the Warriors' position in third place with three games remaining.
The Auckland-based outfit will need some slip-ups from Penrith or Brisbane to snatch a top-two berth.
But with remaining games against bottom-eight sides Manly, St George Illawarra and the Dolphins, anything is possible.
Wests Tigers' 18th loss of from 21 matches this year almost certainly consigned the joint venture to a second straight wooden spoon.
Languishing four competition points adrift of second-last St George Illawarra on the ladder, the Tigers will need to win their remaining three games to avoid the spoon.
That looks a tall order.
The Tigers host the Dolphins next Saturday before finishing with tough away games against the Sydney Roosters and Manly.
While the Tigers' fate looks sealed, the Warriors will need to lift to contend in the finals despite their expected lofty finish.
Even in front of a sell-out home crowd of 25,118 fans, the Warriors were unable to put the lowly Tigers to the sword.
Trailing 12-0 early, the Tigers went to the sheds with the scores locked up at 12-12.
Coach Tim Sheens maintains with a full-strength line-up the Tigers can challenge for the top eight in 2024.
"Morale wise, they're as tight as hell,: Sheens said.
"We might be losing at the moment but we're not getting beaten - and there's a big difference in losing and getting beat.
"We're closing down the season but w're not going to put the cue in the rack."
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