After a 62-0 drubbing last time they met, the Newcastle Knights ISP side earned back respect with a 16-6 defeat over the second placed Mounties at McDonald Jones Stadium on Friday afternoon.
While it was a low scoring first half with the Knights leading by just two points, Newcastle put the foot down in the second stanza to assert their attacking authority thanks to some dominating work in the forward pack.
It was end-to-end football for the first 20 minutes as the Knights battled to keep possession.
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On several occasions the visitors tried to penetrate the Knights goal line but kept falling short as defensive efforts from the home side stayed solid.
Newcastle continued to edge their way down their scoring end and finally in the 30th minute, the first points of the match were recorded.
A short ball allowed Luke Yates to crash his way to the line beside the posts. Nick Meaney made no mistake on the kick and it was 6-0 to the Knights.
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The Mounties returned fire 36 minutes in with a run from Tony Santini down the left edge to cross over. The conversion didn't stick, and it was the Knights by two points, 6-4, into halftime.
After the break, again it was a fight between both sides to maintain possession as 10 minutes went by without points.
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Mitch Andrews managed to muscle his way to the line but was held up by a wall of yellow and black Mounties.
The visitors were awarded a penalty 10 metres out on the 60-minute mark and decided to take the kick to level the score line 6-all via Taane Milne.
The Knights dug deep to penetrate the line and finally Knights forward Pasami Saulo was able to break through under the sticks 65 minutes in. Meaney nailed the kick to put Newcastle back in front, 12-6.
The Knights showed impressive desperation in the next few minutes as Andrews scrambled to ground the ball over the goal line, despite the Mounties trying to bat the ball dead.
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Meaney couldn't make it three-from-three on the conversion but the home side had a handy lead of 10 points with just over five minutes on the clock.
The Knights held off the Mounties in the final minutes to take the Round 21 victory 16-6.
Match Summary
Knights 16 (T: Yates, Saulo, Andrews G: Meaney 2/3) defeated
Mounties 6 (T: Santini G: Milne 0/1, PG: Milne 1/1 )
