The Gold Coast Titans have defied the odds of having two players sin binned in the second half to take a 33-26 drought breaking victory over the Newcastle Knights in front of 11,000 fans at Cbus Super Stadium.
The Gold Coast Titans started the match under pressure from the Knights however they got the first smiles of the game when Phillip Sami opened the scoring after 9 minutes. The Titans extended their lead 15 minutes later through a Michael Gordon penalty goal that saw them go out to 8-0.
The Knights were looking tired and off the pace however they were the next to score when the Titans were caught short for numbers out to the right and Connor Watson saw as much and after Copley slipped, Sione Mata'utia crossed for the Knights opening try of the half. A string of penalties got the Knights into attacking position again but they elected to take the two rather than pish for another try.
On the stroke of half time the Titans regained their lead when Dale Copley scored after Ash Taylor drew the defence in by running the ball and found Copley who had an easy passage to the line to score and despite Michael Gordon missing the conversion attempt the Titans still lead into the break.
Things didn't start well to begin well for the Titans when Moeaki Fotuaika was sent to the sin bin by referee Grant Atkins after Fotuaika gave away a penalty on his own line after Grant Atkins continued a warning from the first half. The Knights managed to take advantage of their field position and extra man when Slade Griffin put through Herman Ese'ese to score for the Knights to retake the lead.
The sin bin period wasn't a complete disaster approaching the end of Fotuaika's 10 minutes off the field when the Titans ran from one side to the other and put Phillip Samiover for his second try of the game. Without the Phillip Sami try, the sin bin period could've been a total disaster when Grant Atkins again sent a Titans player to the sin bin this time it was Jarrod Wallace who went to the bin for a professional foul meaning the Titans had a two minute period where they were defending with just 11.
Consecutive penalties again for the Knights got them upfield and again running the ball on the last paid dividends for a side and this time it was the Knights who crossed through Ken Sio that got the four pointer. The Knights then scored again through some Kalyn Ponga brilliance however it was Ken Sio who took a chance of picking the ball up deep in his own ingoal before finding Ponga who raced downfield to score. The last fifteen minutes was all the Titans who put on fifteen points in that period with a tries to Anthony Don and AJ Brimson that helped set up the Titans victory.