Winning chance slips through Dragons’ fingers as Knights hold on

A second win of the season has quite literally slipped through St George Illawarra’s fingers in a heartbreaking 22-20 loss to Newcastle at McDonald Jones Stadium.

The last-placed Dragons scored four tries to the Knights’ three on Friday night, with two Newcastle penalty goals and Valentine Holmes’ wayward boot separating the sides.

Saints had one last chance to snatch a famous victory when five-eighth Daniel Atkinson lofted a bomb into the red zone in the final minute of play.

Excellent to that point, halves partner Kyle Flanagan chased through, but the ball slipped from his grasp as he tried to regather it and score the match-winner.

The Knights held on for the most unconvincing of wins and moved temporarily into the top four.

Holmes will rue having missed a very straightforward conversion attempt with 20 minutes to play that could have eventually sent the game to extra time.

The former State of Origin representative grimaced after pushing the regulation attempt just to the left of the woodwork.

But the result nevertheless reiterates the Dragons’ improvements under interim coach Dean Young.

Only six weeks ago, Newcastle raced out to a 32-0 half-time lead and inflicted a 44-10 defeat on the Dragons in Young’s second game at the helm.

Early signs were that history would repeat itself after the Dragons were forced to reshuffle their backline with Moses Suli (back) injured in the warm-up.

Replacing the rested Kalyn Ponga, fullback Fletcher Sharpe feasted on the makeshift edges, crossing twice in the opening 10 minutes.

But unlike in the sides’ last meeting, the Dragons would not roll over, and are clearly attacking with far greater confidence than earlier in the year.

So often criticised for their lack of firepower in the halves, all four of the Dragons’ tries came directly after kicks from either Atkinson or Flanagan.

The first three of those were from kicks early in the tackle count, with the Dragons also unafraid to throw the ball around in second-phase play.

Second-rower Luciano Leilua gave Saints a lift coming on and helped put Clint Gutherson into a space ahead of Setu Tu’s try.

Notably, hooker Damien Cook pulled his opposite man Phoenix Crossland down centimetres short of the tryline in the final minute before half-time.

Ultimately, the Knights’ fast start was enough, with Sandon Smith’s 54th-minute try their only four-pointer after the 10-minute mark.