Ivan Cleary is unconcerned by Penrith's minor premiership prospects after son Nathan came up clutch to seal a 22-14 defeat of Newcastle and reignite the contest for first place on the NRL ladder.
After the plucky Knights levelled the scores in pursuit of a boilover, the halfback spied a gap in the defence and spun out of four tackles en route to a brilliant individual try at BlueBet Stadium on Sunday.
Shortly after scoring the pivotal four-pointer with 10 minutes to play, Cleary sealed the deal with a penalty goal that ticked his career total past 1500 points.
"To be honest, it was a pretty ugly game from me so I felt like I needed to step up at the end and that moment sort of fell in my lap," Cleary said.
The win leaves second-placed Penrith only two points behind ladder-leading Melbourne, who had one hand on the JJ Giltinan Shield before Saturday's shock loss to St George Illawarra.
The pair of results sets up what could be a winner-take-all clash for the minor premiership when the Panthers host the Storm in a fortnight.
But coach Ivan Cleary will be satisfied as long as his side secures hosting rights and the double chance in week one of the finals.
"(Finishing in) the top two is the main thing," he said.
"The minor premiership I think is an underrated achievement. If that happens, it happens but we'll just be looking forward to Parramatta next week and trying to build on this performance.
"We struggled to get much momentum at all today but I just thought we stuck at it, moved the ball when we could.
"It was a hard-fought victory."
Newcastle remain in contention for the top eight despite their third-straight loss, though will need victories in all five of their remaining games to finish the season with a winning record.
"There's parts there individually and as a team where I couldn't be more proud of how tough we were," said Knights coach Adam O'Brien.
"At the same time, to be the team that we want to be, we've got to cut out some of the ill discipline."
O'Brien moved Phoenix Crossland to halfback at Jackson Hastings' expense but Newcastle's fifth unique halves pairing of the season struggled to apply consistent pressure.
Five-eighth Tyson Gamble put the visitors in position to take the lead in the sixth minute with a pinpoint 40/20 kick and then sent Tyson Frizell over to break the arm-wrestle that began the second half.
But as the Knights chased points in the final minutes, Gamble sprayed an attacking kick beyond the dead ball line and threw a cutout pass to the deck, allowing Penrith to scramble in defence.
Recent headlines appeared not to have weighed on Brian To'o, who was said to have been pondering his future before crisis talks with club management this week.
The nuggety winger belted down the right side to help Izack Tago break his eight-game try-scoring drought and give Penrith their first lead of the day before halftime.
To'o would have had a try of his own in the second half had the bunker not pulled the play back to penalise Tago for a high shot on Kalyn Ponga.
Isaiah Iongi enjoyed a strong NRL debut at fullback for Penrith, most notably laying a try-saving tackle on Fletcher Sharpe as the right winger looked certain to score in the final minutes.
Newcastle's former State of Origin prop Jacob Saifiti suffered a game-ending calf injury in the warm-up and is set for scans.
"He's on crutches in there now so that's not a good sign with a calf," O'Brien said.
