NEWCASTLE'S Richard Fa'aoso butchered a try but made amends in the most emphatic fashion as the Knights won a war of attrition against Manly, marred by a suspected head butt from Josh Perry against his old club.
Manly were on the wrong end of two controversial video referee decisions and failed to capitalise on a rare blunder from Newcastle fullback Kurt Gidley in a clash that took forever and a day to complete because of the increasing amount of time being wasted by stoppages.
The third official last night, Englishman Russell Smith, was called upon so often, and he watched so many replays, that it started to feel like the NFL.
The Knights trailed 12-6 with three minutes left when Fa'aoso only had to catch the ball to score. He dropped it cold. But he replied almost immediately by steaming onto a pass from Jarrod Mullen and powering like a man possessed past Brett and Glenn Stewart for redemption, sending a crowd of 18,117 into raptures and the clash into golden-point extra time.
Knights halfback Scott Dureau landed the matchwinning field goal in the 84th minute and the players celebrated as if they had won the grand final.
Hot on the heels of the contentious no-try video decision against the Roosters on Friday night, Manly hooker Matt Ballin was denied a try from an equally controversial verdict from Smith in the 21st minute of a clash that got the Sea Eagles back on track, but also proved how much Michael Monaghan is going to be missed.
Manly five-eighth Jamie Lyon launched a towering midfield bomb. With Sea Eagles captain Matt Orford applying pressure, Gidley spilled possession for Ballin to scoop up the ball and dart away to score.
But then Smith penalised the Sea Eagles because Anthony Watmough had been in front of the kicker. Watmough was inside 10m of the play - by about 50cm. He had nothing to do with the contest for the ball, but another baffling law cruelled the Sea Eagles.
Manly centre Steve Bell tried to sneak a try from dummy half but a tackle from Mullen jarred the ball free. It took Smith an eternity - about three minutes - to make his ruling.
The Sea Eagles hit a 6-2 half-time lead when Gidley dropped another bomb, for Lyon to score. Gidley took out his mouthguard to swear. He has barely made a mistake this century, but two had come in 14 minutes.
Just before half-time, Orford broke free with only Gidley to beat. Gidley pulled him down just centimetres from the try line. It was the difference between trailing by four points at half-time, or 10.
Sea Eagles winger Michael Bani had a try disallowed. Mullen had stripped the ball, only for Manly's Steve Menzies to rake it back off Keith Lulia. Menzies passed to Bani, who went over in the corner, but it was disallowed - only for the Sea Eagles to get the penalty.
Bani scored his second four-pointer and Manly led 12-2. The Knights got back to 12-6 with 13 minutes left but Fa'aoso's blunder kept Manly ahead. Perry, for his part, has been reported for a head-butt.
NEWCASTLE 13 (R Fa'aoso C Houston tries K Gidley 2 goals S Dureau field goal) bt MANLY 12 (M Bani J Lyon tries M Orford 2 goals) in golden-point extra time at EnergyAustralia Stdm. Referee: B Cummins. Crowd: 18,117.
GUS'S VERDICT
A DRAB game that ended with a wonderful story of courage and a nice break for a really good young bloke. With three minutes on the clock and trailing by six points, Knights forward Richard Fa'aoso dropped the ball with the line open and bombed a try. You could see him thinking: "Why does it always happen to me?" Two minutes later he steamed onto a pass, smashed through two defenders and scored to send the game to golden point. The Knights won. See: the football gods do smile on good people, occasionally.
