Canterbury have produced one of the great modern NRL comebacks to break Newcastle’s heart 20-18 at Belmore Sports Ground on Sunday.
The Knights looked headed for the biggest upset of the season when they were up by 10 points with five minutes to go however the Bulldogs powered home.
After Marcelo Montoya crossed with four minutes to go, Brock Lamb booted it into the legs of Moses Mbye who raced 70m to score and even up the scores in the 80th minute.
Kerrod Holland booted it from the sidelines to take a two-point lead and help local junior Josh Reynolds celebrate his last game at Belmore in style.
The Knights had a chance to send it to golden point after the sideline when Reynolds was penalised for pushing Chanel Mata’utia off the ball from the kick off.
However Lamb’s attempted penalty conversion was far too low and sailed well to the left of the uprights.
After the Bulldogs carried an 8-6 lead into halftime, Trent Hodkinson evened up the scores nine minutes after the break with a penalty goal.
It appeared Hodkinson was set to come back to haunt his former club after he set up Chanel and Peter Mata’utia in the space of eight minutes to take a surprise lead.
However the Bulldogs, despite being without five of their biggest names in Josh Jackson, David Klemmer, James Graham, Brett Morris and Greg Eastwood, found enough to break a two-game losing streak.
The Bulldogs took an 8-6 lead into halftime but should have been up by several tries after bombing a host of chances.
After Kerrod Holland opened the scoring thanks to some quick hands, the Bulldogs had a number of golden opportunities – thanks to five first-half linebreaks – but couldn’t convert it into more points.
Nathan Ross came up with a try-saver on Aiden Tolman, Josh Morris lost it over the line, Raymond Faitila-Mariner dropped it 10m out and Will Hopoate threw it over the sideline.
The Knights then stole a four-pointer in the shadows of halftime after Peter Mata’utia took a quick tap and caught the Dogs defence napping.