A late Aiden Tolman try has spoiled Newcastle's stirring effort to upset Canterbury in front of recovering second rower Alex McKinnon, with the Knights going down 16-12 in their NRL league clash in Sydney.
The Bulldogs fifth win on the trot cementing their place at the top of the table.
McKinnon, who suffered a broken neck playing for the Knights last month, made an unannounced visit to ANZ Stadium for the round eight NRL match and Newcastle looked likely to clinch their third win of the season for him for much of a see-sawing clash.
That dream was crushed when video referees Bernard Sutton and Andrew Dunemann ruled there had been no Bulldogs knock-on when prop Tolman came up with a kick to dive over seven minutes from fulltime in front of 15,286 fans on Saturday night.
A corner-post camera seemed to provide the compelling evidence that the kick, which the Knights had failed to clean up in the southeastern corner, had not been propelled forward by the Dogs.
Des Hasler's competition leaders hung on for a fifth consecutive victory.
