The nib Newcastle Knights have gone down 21-16 to the St George Illawarra Dragons in a Sunday afternoon special at WIN Stadium, Wollongong.
In heartbreaking fashion, Dragons centre, Zac Lomax, kicked a field goal with three minutes to spare before a last-minute try sealed the result for the home side.
The loss is the fourth on the bounce for the Knights heading into back-to-back home games.
The Knights defence was resolute in the opening 10 minutes keeping out a volume of Dragons attacks.
The match settled into a battle of field position before the Dragons opened the scoring with a penalty goal.
Jacob Saifiti was penalised for taking out Jack Bird after a kick and Zac Lomax took the two points in front of the posts.
The home side would also post the first try with former Knight, Andrew McCullough, burrowing over from dummy-half.
On the stroke of half-time, a bit of Kalyn Ponga magic got the Knights back into the contest.
From a standing start, the fullback poked his nose through the line and flicked the ball out to unmarked Enari Tuala on the wing.
Ponga wizardry sets up Tuala
The Knights went into the change of ends trailing by 4.
The Knights took the ascendancy at the resumption of play and hit the lead for the first time shortly after the break.
After Edrick Lee came down with the high ball, the play moved to the right side where a clever combination of one-two passes between Frizell and Gagai had the centre diving over.
Dane Gagai puts the Knights ahead after entertaining scramble
The Dragons quickly responded with two quick-fire tries of their own.
An opportune bounce had Jack Bird diving over before Mat Feagai scored in the corner.
Needing to be next to score, a flying Bradman Best was the answer for the Knights.
Ponga finishes a rapid Knights move
The centre fended his opposing number and put on the after burners to draw and pass the fullback to send Kalyn Ponga over untouched and under the sticks.
The game was anyone's to take heading into the final 15 minutes.
A nail biting finish, Lomax booted the one-pointer on the 77th minute mark before Feagai posted his second to sink Newcastle hearts.
Newcastle will look to snap their four-game run when they host Parramatta next Sunday at McDonald Jones Stadium.
