The Titans have broken a five-match losing streak with a 33-26 win over the Knights in an entertaining game on the Gold Coast.
It was a gutsy win the Titans after they were briefly down to 11 men early in the second half. Both Moeaki Fotuaika and Jarrod Wallace spent time in the sin bin for repeated infringements near their own try line.
The Titans showed real grit to fight back from 26-18 down with eighteen minutes to score 15 unanswered points.
Rookie five-eighth AJ Brimson scored the match-winner with four minutes to go, picking up the crumbs to score in the corner after centre Dale Copley had batted back an Ash Taylor cross-field kick.
Taylor slotted a field goal two minutes later to put the game out of Newcastle’s reach.
Earlier, the Titans had led 12-8 at half-time after scoring two tries to one in the first forty minutes.
They scored their first try in the 8th minute when winger Phillip Sami crossed in the corner. It came after Michael Gordon batted back an Ash Taylor bomb and the Titans spun the ball wide.
The Titans added a penalty goal not long after to skip out to an 8-0 lead.
The Knights hit back in the 28th minute when centre Sione Mata’utia stepped inside to beat Copley and score.
That was followed up by a penalty goal from Brock Lamb a few minutes later to level the scores.
Two minutes before half-time, Ash Taylor flicked a beautiful pass to put Copley over and allow the Titans to regain the lead.
It was a see-sawing second half.
The Knights opened the scoring in the 45th minute with a try from close range by a charging Herman Ese’ese. That put them in front for the first time in the match at 14-12.
The Titans hit back two minutes later with slick backline passing to create an overlap, before Copley threw a great flick pass to put Sami over for his second try.
Taylor’s conversion made it 18-14, but a great ball from Kalyn Ponga put winger Ken Sio over in the corner ten minutes later. Brock Lamb’s sideline conversion put the Knights back in front 20-18.
Ponga then broke the line on a kick return and showed his speed to streak away 95 metres to score in the 62nd minute.
That try gave the Knights an 8-point buffer, but the Titans came back strongly to grab a desperately needed two points.
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