St George Illawarra have been saved from embarrassment after coming from behind to break lowly Newcastle’s hearts 32-28 on Sunday afternoon.
The Dragons were booed from the field by their own fans at UOW Jubilee Oval as they went into halftime down 28-10.
However the Red V faithful were singing in the stands by fulltime after a gutsy comeback orchestrated by Gareth Widdop.
A loss would have put Paul McGregor’s side on the brink of falling out of the top eight but they ran in four unanswered tries in the second 40 minutes to snap a two-game losing streak.
They began their fightback when Widdop – who finished the game with four try assists – grubbered for Joel Thompson to score six minutes after the resumption.
When Josh Dugan ran from dummy-half and trampled three Knights defenders to score, they were back within six points with 27 minutes still on the clock.
And when Widdop threw a beautiful cut-out pass to send Jason Nightingale over for his third of the afternoon before booting the extras from the sideline, they were back on level pegging.
They regained the lead when Kurt Mann ran a smart line off a Widdop pass in the 67th minute for a valuable yet unconvincing win.
The home side lost prop Paul Vaughan in the third minute to a suspected torn right calf however it failed to diminish their fast start.
The Dragons looked like they were ready to run away with the game as Nightingale crossed for a double – and bring up his 100th try in the process – within 10 minutes.
However the tide immediately turned with the Knights crossing five times in 14 minutes to carry a 28-10 lead into the break.
Fullback Nathan Ross brought up a first-half hat-trick in the space of 11 minutes with the Knights not only refusing to turn belly up but hitting back and playing their best football of the year.
The Dragons were woeful, making fundamental errors such as letting the ball bounce for Brendan Elliot’s 35th minute try and Hame Sele dropping it cold before allowing Ross to race 80m to score.
The Dragons then turned it around with Widdop and their NSW State of Origin contingent of Tyson Frizell and Dugan leading the way.
