A thriller decided by golden point. Again.
The boot of Dragons five-eighth Corey Norman showing no mercy to the Knights as the visitors clinched the game 13-12 in golden point.
The birthday boy Mitchell Pearce started the game in style with a spiralling high kick off the 5th tackle to land in the hands of Shaun Kenny-Dowall.
Ponga brilliance not enough
The play ended in a sneaky grubber in-goal, which saw Newcastle pin the Dragons behind the line for a repeat set.
The first points came in the seventh minute of the match. An unfortunate penalty saw the visitors kick for goal. Tim Lafai added two to the Dragons tally.
What a way to highlight the tenth minute of the match with a bullet cut-away from Kalyn Ponga on the left side to Edrick Lee. The tall winger strode over for the first try of the match and his 50th NRL try.
Ponga put the icing on the cake with an own goal conversion to put the Knights in the lead, 6-2.
A sigh of relief for the red and blue, despite the Dragons crossing over, the referee went upstairs and the bunker ruled a knock-on by James Graham to deny the try.
In the 24th minute, a split second lapse saw the ball stripped from Pearce by a charging Tyson Frizell. He rolled forward five metres to record the Dragons first try.
Still something to smile about.
Lafai kicked the Dragons conversion and it was the visitors back in front, 8-6.
It didn’t take long for a Knights reply, out of dummy half to Pearce, through the hands of Ponga and out wide to Hymel Hunt who side stepped his way to cross the line.
Ponga couldn’t convert but the Knights jumped back in the lead, 10-8, with ten minutes left in the half.
It was end to end football for the remaining minutes but either side added to the score line, to see the Knights head into the halftime break up by a mere two points.
In the second, some handy work on the kicks provided some repeat sets for the Knights.
Down the other end, the Dragons let loose out wide but despite a crossover from Lafai, a wall of Knights held him up.
Another nervous moment as the visitors again led a charge down the left side to see Jordan Pereira slide over. The ref pulled it back and the try was disallowed, the pass to the winger deemed forward.
But the Dragons made up for it minutes later, this time on the right. Matt Dufty made the bullet pass out wide to Mikalele Ravalawa who made it count for the try. Dragons hit the lead 12-10.
An unnecessary hit by Tariq Sims on Pearce after he kicked the ball, gave the Knights a penalty kick from 25 out. Ponga nailed it to level the scores 12-all.
Fortunate went the way for the Knights when a swinging high ball was too much to handle for the Dragons no. 1. It was back in Knights possession 15 metres out with 13 minutes on the clock.
The red and blue were close to charging to the line but a dropped ball from Mason Lino set them back.
With two and a half minutes to go, Pearce attempted a field goal but disappointment set in as it swung left of the uprights.
30 second on the clock and Pearce had no choice but to again go for the field goal 50 metres out. He missed, and the match went into golden point.
First half of extra time it still wasn't decided despite a big kick off the boot of Dragon's Ben Hunt right on the buzzer.
But the man who did it last week, did it again. Corey Norman slotted the field goal from 35 metres out to seal the deal for the Dragons 13-12 against the Knights. The Alex McKinnon staying with the Dragons.
Knights 12 ( Lee, Hunt, G: Ponga1/2, PG: Ponga 1/1)
Dragons 13
