The Newcastle Knights Jersey Flegg side have suffered their second loss of the season after falling short 36-30 against Mounties on Saturday.
The Knights have now slipped to second in the standings with an undefeated Cronulla sitting at the top of the table.
Mounties burst out of the gates with Thomas McGrady landing an early try before the visitors returned serve through Nash Birch who exploited some lazy defence with a right-foot step to open the scoring after eight minutes.
A former Knight in halfback Brendan O'Hagan hit-back for the Mounties when he put his fullback Andre Niko over.
It was a see-sawing battle with the Knights and Mounties going tit for tat for tries with the halftime score reading 20-18 to the home side.
Mounties forward Elijah Hunt crashed over from close range and Harley Smith-Shields slid over on the edge to extend the lead as Todd Lowries sought answers.
With fulltime fast approaching, a try to Mounties centre Seb Kris courtesy of a Niko pass pushed the score out to 36-18.
That's when the Knights came to life.
Quick tries to Ofa Manuofetoa and Lachlan Farr reduced the margin to six but with the clock against them, it was too little too late for the Knights.
Match Summary
Mounties 36 (Tries: McGrady, Hunt, Smith-Shields, Niko, Young, Kris, O'Hagan. Goals: Niko 4)
d Knights 30 (Tries: Birch, Cooper, Manuofetoa, Rasiga, Farr. Goals: Dark 3, Cooper 2)
