The Newcastle fairy tale is still alive after the officials missed a clear escort penalty in the final minute that would have sent Sunday’s sudden-death semi-final showdown into extra-time.

The Knights will play minor premiers Penrith in the preliminary final after they knocked the Warriors out in straight sets courtesy of a dramatic and controversial 12-10 victory at a heaving Eden Park.

The crowd of 48,511 were up in arms when Leka Halasima was bumped off the ball by Tyson Frizell as he chased through a kick, with referee Ashley Klein clearing the contact in front of the posts.

Replays showed it was a clear escort which would have tied things up, but the Warriors weren’t able to challenge.

It was one of several baffling calls on Sunday afternoon, with the bunker overturning a call after a pass was deflected, while Te Maire was penalised for a strip that looked like a loose carry.

But the better team won which sets up an epic encounter between the best team of the decade and one that claimed the wooden spoon last year.

“It was frustrating. I thought they were trying to find ways to take it off us,” Warriors coach Andrew Webster said.

“With the rotation of the ball, he (bunker official Chris Butler) said he couldn’t find any evidence, but then he has one more look and says ‘there it is’ after he looked at it 20 times.

“The last one, two points would have drawn the game. He (Frizell) is going across Leka pretending to catch the ball, which they told us you can’t do.

“At the end of the day, you make your own luck in this game. We had enough opportunities to win that game.”

Knights coach Justin Holbrook wasn’t in the mood to discuss the calls.

“I thought they were all right,” he said.

“I’m not here to comment on the result. We were fantastic today. The Warriors have had a great year, they were enormous and there wasn’t much in the game, but I want to thank our players.

“We played with 100 fans here out of 50,000 and we knew how many fans were watching back home, so I’m really happy with the win.”

KING OF THE CASTLE

Cinderella had the glass slipper, but the Knights can thank their class skipper for keeping the fairy tale alive.

The clock hasn’t struck midnight on Newcastle’s season thanks to another dominant display from Kalyn Ponga who came up with some huge plays with and without the ball.

This wasn’t one of those games where the flashy fullback set up five tries and scored one of his own, but his fingerprints were on everything as they produced an all-time heist across the ditch.

Ponga made a break in the opening minutes that would have led to a try had Fletcher Sharpe not fallen over, while his big kick return in the second half flipped the field when his side needed territory.

The Queensland star came up with a huge tackle to bring Kurt Capewell down, with Ponga also coming up with several crucial captain’s challenges.

He wasn’t the only hero with Sharpe eventually scoring after two near misses, their unheralded bench was enormous, while Phoenix Crossland pounced on two loose balls late in the game to go with his 50 tackles.

HIA DRAMA

Ponga failed to finish the match and was one of three players forced off for head injury assessments.

The Knights skipper was taken off with six minutes to go following a heavy shot from Halasima, but it was deemed a category two and didn’t look like it would rule him out of Sunday’s grand final qualifier.

The Warriors lost two members of their back five with Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad ruled out after he was named to start ahead of Alofiana Khan-Pereira, while fullback Taine Tuaupiki also came off late after running for 178 metres and busting 14 tackles.

ONCE WERE WARRIORS

They looked like premiership favourites a few weeks ago, but the season is over for the Warriors after bombing out with back-to-back losses at home.

The warning signs were there early with the Knights blowing a couple of golden opportunities, with their edge defence again exposed in big moments.

Halasima kept them in the contest with both of their tries, including a tremendous put down with 10 minutes to go, only for Tuaupiki to miss the sideline conversion.

Capewell was also a handful on the left edge but lacked support whenever he made a break, while they were correctly denied a try for obstruction with 20 to go.

The issue for the Warriors was their lack of polish, with the team screaming out for a class playmaker to ice their territory.

That will only be tougher next year with Luke Metcalf off to the Dragons, with their usually reliable handling letting them down with 12 errors.

Something special is brewing in New Zealand, but they have to make this count before expansion changes the landscape of the NRL forever.

“We’ll come back better for this,” Webster said.

“We’ve got to learn, we’ve got to be motivated and we’ve got to stay tight. We had a whole country behind us all year, and we certainly felt it this week.

“We really wish we had repaid them, but at the same time, we have to make sure than when we get back to this moment that we know exactly what to do.”

Originally published as ‘Trying to find ways to take it off us’: Warriors fume over three controversial calls as Kalyn Ponga helps Knights reach the prelim final