The Newcastle Knights have kept the Parramatta Eels at the bottom of the NRL ladder with a 34-26 win in a game filled with bunker interventions and missed opportunities in front of over 27,000 fans.
Despite having mountains of possession early on, the Knights had to stand and watch the Eels open the scoring through Blaize Talagi as a repeat set for the Blue and Gold paid off and they were able to spread the ball right and score. Mitch Moses converted for a 6-0 lead.
Maika Sivo was the first to be denied by Wyatt Raymond in the bunker when he was ruled to have been brought down short off the line by referee Peter Gough and with no evidence to overturn the bunker upheld the live call. The Knights though were able to hit the scoreboard with debutant Will Pryce who charged through off a Daniel Saifiti offload.
The Eels hit back soon after as Mitch Moses went left from the scrum and showed that he has speed as he left the Knights defence clutching at the air to score wide out. The conversion was successful and the Eels had a 12-6 lead.
The bunker denied Maika Sivo a second try as he tried to claim a try that looked nothing close to being one before the Knights went up the other end as the hosts spread the ball and Greg Marzhew went over for his first of the night. Jackson Hastings missed the conversion and the score went to 12-10 which is stayed at for the Half time break.
Not long after half time, the Knights went over again as the Blue and Gold defence were caught napping as Marzhew went through out wide for his second. The Knights winger thought he had his third try of the night minutes later but not for the first time Wyatt Raymond had to intervene and overturn the try after the Knights kick chasers were offside and became involved when Talagi lost the ball.
Just a few minutes later, the home side again were given the four points by referee Peter Gough when Bradman Best got his way to the line BUT yet again Wyatt Raymond had to overturn the live decision when Bradman Best was never close to getting the ball down.
The two denials for the Knights were to hurt even more as the Eels went bang bang in quick succession when Blaize Talagi picked up his second of the game when the Knights couldn't clean up a kick and then Mitch Moses again stood up to score. Both conversions were pushed away.
The Novocastrians put themselves back in front when Enari Tuala was in the right spot to pounce on a loose ball after Dane Gagai's kick was fumbled by the Eels and Tuala was on the spot to score. Jackson Hastings conversion put the Knights up 22-20.
Tuala thought he had a second a few minutes later when the Knights kept the ball alive off a last tackle kick but yet again despite it being awarded live, the try had to be disallowed by Wyatt Raymond in the bunker with Fletcher Sharpe only keeping possession by pinning it against the leg of a teammate standing in front of him.
The Knights did score next which came when the Eels turned the ball over and Bradman Best had to race 80m away to score untouched. The conversion from close range was good for Jackson Hastings and the Knights restored an 8 point lead.
Things weren't over as the Eels had an unlikely last tackle combinations which saw Junior Paulo combine with Bryce Cartwright and back again as Paulo burst over to score close to the posts. The Eels closed the gap to two when Mitch Moses converted.
The Knights sealed things in the dying minutes when Bradman Best again swooped on an Eels error came after spreading the ball right and Best though struggling got to the line to score two tries late to seal the 34-26 win.
Next week, the Eels only have a five day turn-around before a battle against Souths on Thursday night whilst Newcastle have a trip to Canberra to take on the Raiders.