CENTRAL KNIGHTS FALL SHORT IN CLOSE FINISH
Tony Delany - League Unlimited
2008-08-24
Newtown have survived a fast finishing Central Newcastle Knights outfit 24-22 in their round 20 New South Wales Cup clash at EnergyAustralia Stadium.
The fourth placed Jets defended their way to victory hanging on to a two point lead to cement their place in the top four.
Newcastle's Michael Young got the ball rolling for the home side when he crossed inside the first five minutes after good lead up work from Cooper Vuna.
Newtown replied just minutes later when fullback Don Johnson beat his opposite number on the way to the try line to level the score six all.
Newcastle took advantage of the windy conditions when a kick for touch gained an amazing seventy metres, setting the platform for Newcastle's next try in the ensuing set when Knights replacement Matt Sharp broke a Danny Howard tackle to make it 10-6 Newcastle.
The windy conditions prevented either side from gaining any quality field position from their kicking game with both sets of halves putting the ball into touch on the full on a number of occasions.
Newtown gained the ascendency late in the 1st half when Danny Aleeytovo scored in the corner after former Knights, Sean Rudder threw a great cut out pass for the winger to give the Jets the lead 12-10 going into half time.
A double to Rudder followed shortly after half time and the Jets looked to have the game in the bag at 24-10 but the home side refused to lie down building some good pressure off the back off some strong running and hard hitting defence from their young forward pack.
The Knights fought their way back with a try in the corner to Cooper Vuna from a wayward kick. Teason Faavele-eli converted from touch to make it 24-16.
The home side made it back to back tries when Jason Schirmack crossed under the posts with just nine minutes remaining.
Central Newcastle looked to have stolen the game from the visitors when Tim Natusch looked to have slammed the ball down late in the match but was ruled to be held up by Referee Gavin West.
The Jets hung on for the final 5 minutes with Newcastle peppering them with a series of raids on their line to give the foundation club a 24-22 victory.
in the NSWC game...he was the best forward on the field