Knights strike gold in Newcastle

Match Summary The Newcastle Knights have come from behind to claim the Mal Reilly Shield with a 13-12 Golden Point victory over the Manly Sea Eagles in front of a vociferous crowd at EnergyAustralia Stadium tonight.

The Knights left their run late, only drawing level in the 79th minute before Scott Dureau etched his name into Newcastle folklore with a field goal in the third minute of extra time.

Newcastle had started the game strongly, with 100% of the ball in the first seven minutes but only a penalty goal to show for their mountain of possession. The first half featured plenty of half-chances and bombed opportunities for both teams before an error from Knights fullback Kurt Gidley gifted a try to Jamie Lyon. Manly headed to the break with a 6-2 lead and the comfort of a strong breeze behind their backs in the second half.

Newcastle continued to press away in the second half with little success, and Manly looked to have done enough for a win when Michael Bani scored a relatively soft try in the 58th minute. Knights skipper Danny Buderus even had a rare spell on the interchange bench as the physical battle in the middle took its toll.

The Knights continued to attack without their captain, and Scott Dureau sparked them back into the match with a nice short pass leading to a try for Chris Houston with fifteen minutes left on the clock. Manly seemed to be showing signs of pressure as fulltime approached, with some poor offloads handing valuable possession to the Knights on plenty of occasions.

With only five minutes left on the clock the action really started to heat up. Newcastle were making clean breaks but their hands were letting them down at crucial times, and ex-Knight Josh Perry certainly didn