Knights weather Storm

The Newcastle Knights have defeated the Melbourne Storm 36-26 at a windy Olympic Park this afternoon.

Despite running into the wind, Newcastle held a handy 10-nil lead following two tries including a controversial call which saw winger Timana Tahu win the video decision.

With Matt Orford leading the charge, the Storm struck back and held a 14-10 lead before Knights centre Matt Gidley crashed over to lock up the score 14-all at half time.

In a second half which saw the lead change three more times, Newcastle seemed to have the match in the bag with back-to-back tries to debutante George Carmont. With less than 15 minutes to go and a strong breeze at their backs, the Knights looked solid at 30-20.

But the home side had other ideas with another try and further attacking raids at the Knights line. With only minutes remaining, the Storm were trailing 30-26.

The revival was short lived however with Andrew Johns and Ben Kennedy combining to put Daniel Richardson over for a well deserved Knights? victory.

Olympic Park Melbourne, Crowd: Referee: Shayne Hayne Video Referee: Mick Lewis Touch Judges: Tony Archer, Peter Sciberras

Scorers: STORM 26 Tries: Hill, Slater, Turner, Moala. Goals: Smith 5/5 KNIGHTS 36 Tries: Carmont 2, Seage, Tahu, Gidley, Abraham, Richardson. Goals: Johns 4/8

By the clock: 0 min: Players on the field.... Kickoff!

5 min: NO TRY - Storm denied when the ref rules a forward pass to Peter Robinson who 'scores' after going through a gap. Pass looked OK but the scoreboard says 0-0.

7 min: TRY - Knights, David Seage scores after backing to wide bust from Ben Kennedy. Conversion Andrews Johns 10m in from touch is successful. Knights 6-0 NEWS - Storm kick off is out on the full!

10 min: TRY - Knights. Timama Tahu gets the points after the Knights launch another attacking raid. Tahu gets over the line but appears to be forced into touch before touching down. Amazingly, the video ref rules in favour of the Knights. Once again, the scoreboard is all that counts. Sideline conversion from Johns misses. Knights 10-0

14 min: TRY - Storm. Scott Hill burrows forward and scores next to uprights. Good response from Storm and following some fine play up the middle. Conversion Cameron Smith successful. Knights 10-6

17 min: PENALTY GOAL - Storm. Cameron Smith makes no mistake from right in front. Controversial penalty as Knights ruled to have passed the ball after being called held. Knights 10-8

19 min: NEWS - Wind has picked up in Storm's favour and multiple penalties now going against the Knights.

30 min: NO TRY - Knights denied. Follows kick from Johns from his own 40m line who regathered and kicked again for Tahu who was ruled not have cleanly touched down - a Storm defender getting a boot in the way.

33 min: TRY - Storm. Billy Slater perfectly positioned to take an in-field chip kick from Matt Orford and score next to the sticks. Conversion Smith successful. Storm in front 14-10

37 min: TRY - Knights, Matt Gidley crashes over 5m in from touch following a simple backline movement. Conversion Johns is pushed to the right of the uprights. 14-all

HALF TIME: 14-all and the game is there for the taking. The wind favouring the Knights in the second half.

SECOND HALF UNDERWAY...

41 min: NO TRY - Storm try bombed by winger Fifta Moala who drops the ball over the line. Follows Matt Gidley (Knights) mistake when he spills ball over sideline from kickoff which put the Storm on the attack. NEWS - Tahu (Knights) on report for high shot on Slater (Storm).

46 min: PENALTY GOAL - Knights. Johns puts the Knights back in front. Follows penalty for holding down. Knights 16-14 NEWS - Storm kick off is out the full for the second time in the match!

48 min: NO TRY - Knights denied after touch judge rules final pass to Tahu to be forward.

50 min: TRY - Storm. Glen Turner scores next to uprights following a tremendous display of broken play. Matt Orford put in a high chip which was re-gathered by the Storm who flicked it to Rodney Howe. Howe then grubbered across the face of goal to find another support player who ran into the uprights as well as Knights defence but managed to put on a flick pass to Turner, Conversion Smith is successful. Storm back in front. 20-16

53 min: TRY - Knights. George Carmont scores out wide. A strong reply from the Knights following a poor re-start from the Storm. Sideline conversion from Johns is unsuccessful. Scores locked up again, 20-all

NEWS - Matt Geyer (Storm) off injured with ligament damage and reportedly out for 4 weeks.

63 min: TRY - Knights. Carmont gets a double on debut as the Knights elect to tap it rather than to take a penalty shot at goal. Conversion Johns unsuccessful. Knights back in front again. Knights 24-20

66 min: TRY - Knights. Daniel Abraham scores as the Knights again elect to tap rather than to take a shot at goal. Conversion successful from Johns. Storm running into a stiff breeze. All over red rover. Knights 30-20.

69 min: TRY - Storm. Fifita Moala re-deems himself slightly with good finish to score in the corner and put the Storm back into the match. Sideline conversion from Cameron Smith is an absolute ripper. Knights 30-26

71-73 min: NEWS - Sensational scenes as the ref and touch judges get involved which sees the Knights are the receiving end of back to back penalties down their end of the field. Storm get another set of six following a knock forward from Knights. Only minutes remaining.

74 min: NEWS - Knights defend well but are forced into a line drop out and yet another set of six against them on the line. Storm lose the ball in the next set through either poor ball security, an illegal strip or both. It?s a let off for the Knights.

78 min: Last throw of the dice for Storm as Billy Slater is delivered to the turf in mid-field and it?s a hand over to the Knights.

79 min: TRY - Knights. Daniel Richardson scores following short passes from 20m out with Johns and Kennedy instrumental. Johns converts from wide. Knights win 36-26 in a highly entertaining match of footy.

FULLTIME: Knights 36 - Storm 26 ----------------------------------------- Leagueunlimited.com players of the match: 3 - B Kennedy (Knights) 2 - A Johns (Knights) 1 - S Simpson (Knights) -----------------------------------------