Wayne Bennett says his Newcastle side's desire to mark Danny Buderus' 250th game with a victory was the key to the their gritty 18-14 win over Cronulla on Saturday.
Trailing 14-12 with less than two minutes on the clock, Dane Gagai sealed the points with a try after hauling in Jarrod Mullen's chip kick in the right corner.
Bennett said the win was a result of some brave defending which masked a performance that contained several errors, but was vital to keeping alive their top-eight hopes - with a home clash with a rejuvenated Melbourne coming up next week.
The two points consolidated the Knights' spot in the eight and was the second time in as many games they have come from behind late on after drawing with Brisbane last week in golden point having been 18-10 down with less than 10 minutes to go.
Bennett highlighted a magnificent second-half tackle from back-rower Robbie Rochow on rampaging prop Andrew Fifita, millimetres from the line as a turning point and said his side wouldn't have possessed the belief to win the game 12 months ago.
"It was like a monkey on a gorilla, he was just hanging on. It was all he had going for him," Bennett said.
"Robbie was underneath him and Tyrone Roberts had to come over the top of him. It was a game saver.
"But I have got no doubt the boys played for Danny tonight.
"There's some belief in the team - we couldn't have done that last year or earlier this season.
"We didn't play well, but good teams get belief and we showed that.
Buderus said he was privileged and honoured to eclipse the record he shared with Andrew Johns and the win was made extra special because of the milestone.
"That's a good lead, two points with not many minutes to go and you just felt it slipping away," Buderus said.
"But it was a never-say-die attitude. We stand for something now as a group, we've got some backbone, and that was the best thing about that win tonight.
"We're showing that and for them to win that tonight I'll never forget that. It's a huge win for us."
