The Newcastle Knights took on the unbeaten Queensland Cowboys in a gripping 18-16 win to the northerners, but sitting wedged between a sea of Newcastle fans on their home turf and the Cowboy supporters wearing 10-gallon hats, could only be described as “uncomfortable”.

Dubbed the match of the round, the stadium was a sea of blue and red as 26,048 footy fans crammed into every available space to support their team.

As people queued for tickets at the front entrance, a roar erupted from the stadium as the reserve grade team ran on to the lush green “paddock” setting the scene for a highly emotional afternoon.

To the chants of “Joey, Joey”, Knights skipper Andrew Johns did a lap of honour before the match to mark his 230th appearance for the club – his brother Matthew also did the rounds and was obviously still very popular with fans as they clamoured for autographs.

Every tackle, every smart move was applauded by the Knights fans who stood as one – swamping us mere mortals – when a Matt Gidley try in the first 10 minutes took their beloved team to a 4-0 lead.

Confusion was in the air when play seemed to stop after a scrum for no apparent reason but it didn’t take long for the whisper to reach the highest level of the stadium that referee Paul Simpkins had been injured.

Suffering a torn calf muscle, Simpkins was replaced by rookie Tony De Las Heras, and 28 minutes into the match the mumble started around the grandstand that “he was out of his depth” as the ball was dropped and re-gathered, changing hands so fast that it was impossible to gauge who deserved the advantage.

Again, I felt small and insignificant in the crowd as genuine concern flowed over the stadium when Andrew Johns limped out of a tackle in the 23rd minute – I could hear the terrified message fly around the stadium “Joey’s hurt, Joey’s hurt”.

I was almost lifted from my seat as panic turned to relief when Joey appeared to recover but when Buderus scored a minute after half-time for a 16-6 lead, it was the Cowboys fans who became depressed:”We’re not playing as well as we should.”

With such a gamut of emotions running high in the stadium, I spent most of my time taking in the facial expressions and listening to the comments – not quite game enough to make a comment myself, positive or negative.

With Andrew Johns protecting his injured, heavily-strapped ankle, the game did not go according to plan and the Cowboys clawed their way back with a converted try from Queenslander, Matty Bowen.

With seven minutes to go, the crowd erupted into a booing, cheering frenzy as the scoreboard became stuck on 18-16.

The sheer persistence of the Cowboys attack had the Knights defending their own line to the chant of “New-Carss-Ull, New-Carss-Ull” which became a deafening roar under the awning of the stadium.

As the clock on the hill ticked down and the Knights struggled for the line, too many handling errors in the final moments stole their last chance and the Cowboys added another notch to their smoking guns, while the Newcastle fans trooped sadly away, heads downcast.

“It is only a game,” I ventured to say timidly to the person next to me but the withering look I received in return soon convinced me that “footy fans are in no mood to be messed with after their team is defeated on their home ground”.

I have not been to a Knights game since that eventful match.