With the scores locked at 14-all and only 12 seconds left on the clock, the veteran Knights halfback turned match-winner, coolly potting the decisive one-pointer for the crucial win.

The Knights have now wrapped up seventh spot and are likely to meet Parramatta in a sudden death clash in the first week of the finals series in a fortnight.

The result of their final round clash against the Brisbane Broncos next weekend will have no bearing on their finishing position.

It is the first time in 18 years the Knights will play in back-to-back finals series after the side finished seventh as well under coach Adam O'Brien last season.

Not since 2003 have Newcastle made consecutive finals appearances with the Knights coming from 12-6 down at halftime against a desperate Titans side to secure the win.

Pearce, who also scored a second half try and along with fullback Kalyn Ponga, owned the big moments in the game for the Knights, was relieved to get the result.

"It was a real end-to-end arm wrestle type of game but I'm really happy we have locked in a finals berth and we've just got to keep on improving," Pearce told Channel Nine after the game.

"I thought defensively we hung in there and [in the second half] if we evened the possession up, we might get some points. Throughout the whole game, our forwards never stopped working defensively and they held us up for a tight finish."

Pearce believed there were some improvements made in the side's attack, which has been heavily criticised in recent weeks.

"We still need to improve our attack - it's been a bit clunky," he said. "But I thought it was better today, it felt a bit cleaner and we didn't have a whole lot of possession."

The Knights were on the back foot early in the contest after a poor defensive miss by Kurt Mann led to a Titans' try after just five minutes.

After a strong defensive set to start the game, Mann was easily beaten in a one-on-one tackle by former Knight Beau Fermor who dished it off to his winger Phillip Sami to cross. Jamal Fogarty missed the conversion but his side led 4-0.

Knights co-captain Jayden was placed on report for an innocuous crusher tackle a few minutes later and with all the possession, the Titans looked threatening with Newcastle's contact in defence poor.

Fogarty pushed the lead out to six points with a penalty goal after 12 minutes before the Knights finally hit back through fullback Kalyn Ponga.

Ponga speared around to his favoured left side, taking a dummy half pass before dummying and cutting between three Titans defenders to score. Jake Clifford's conversion ties things up at 6-6.

After Mitchell Pearce produced an outstanding cover tackle to cut down a runaway Sami, it was two crucial mistakes by the Knights leading into halftime that cost them a share of the lead.

Bench prop Josh King, who made some good in-roads in his first stint, came up with the first error in the play-the-ball followed a second one from winger Hymel Hunt deep in Knights territory.

Interchange Titans backrower David Fifita made sure the Knights paid a heavy price, storming through poor attempted tackles by three Knights defenders to cross in the corner. Fogarty converted from the sideline to bring up the 12-6 halftime scoreline in favour of the Gold Coast.

The Knights were their own worst enemy in the opening 20 minutes of the second half with a series of errors hampering their bid to get back on level terms.

But their defence held and it was that man Ponga again who got involved to put Mitchell Pearce over next to the posts from close range after Pearce had earlier kicked a 40-20 for a 12-12 scoreline.

Clifford gave the Knights a 14-12 lead with a penalty goal with 12 minutes left but the Titans squared things up with seven minutes left with Fogarty nailing a penalty goal.

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