Melbourne hung on to their top four position in the NRL by their finger-tips after scrambling to a gutsy 18-14 win over Newcastle at Olympic Park.

Centre Will Chambers crossed with only three minutes remaining for the Storm to take the lead and then hold out the determined Knights to seal the win.

Newcastle dominated territory and possession as the Storm trailed for the bulk of the match but Melbourne fought back to continue their impressive record at home, with just one loss this season.

The Knights, who trailed the Storm by just one point heading into the match, were backing up from their Monday night win over Souths but they looked fresh and hungry.

The Storm started strongly, with gun centre Greg Inglis the recipient of a last-ditch one-handed pass from Billy Slater to touch down in the seventh minute.

Slater had a busy night, fumbling a ball on the tryline which led to the Knights' first try, scored by Wes Naiqama, before scoring himself in the second half.

They were rattled early on when they lost five-eighth Brett Finch, who suffered a shoulder injury and left the field in the 14th minute. He tried to return in the second half but was unable to make an effective tackle and only lasted less than 10 minutes.

After Inglis' try the Knights started to build momentum and they broke through for their first converted try, scored by Naiqama in the 30th minute.

Inspirational fullback Kurt Gidley, who battled the flu all week, then booted a penalty kick on the halftime hooter to give his side an 8-6 lead at the break.

Slater's try, which came when he steam-rolled Gidley to grab a superb stab grubber by Cooper Cronk, saw his side regain the lead but it was short-lived.

Knights winger Akuila Uate showed his class when he scored off a kick just six minutes later in the 54th minute.

Hooker Isaac de Gois put up a towering bomb which the winger stormed on to, with Gidley again putting the visitors in front, until Chambers' match-winning try.

The Knights were shattered after coming so close to victory, especially after they went into the match without key players, second rower Steve Simpson (flu) and Adam MacDougall (flu/knee) who were ruled out late in the week.

However coach Brian Smith was buoyed by the effort, rating it one of the best since he joined the club in 2007.

"That gives me great encouragement for our future," he said.

"I think the players will gain a lot of confidence to play against top teams at an away venue.

"In terms of performance that was one of our best since I've been around."

Bouncing back after a shock defeat to lowly Canberra, Melbourne coach Craig Bellamy was a relieved man.

He praised his side's defensive effort, making 296 tackles to the Knights' 231.

"If you had a look at the stats at halftime and you didn't know the score you would have thought we were behind by more than two points," he said.

"I thought the guys did a great job defensively, especially on the tryline and they scored their two tries off kicks.

"I was disappointed in the first half, we got a bit frustrated and made way too many errors in our half and put a lot of pressure on ourselves.

"In the second half we controlled the ball a lot better".

Skipper Cameron Smith suffered a shoulder injury around the 20 minute mark but declared himself a certain starter for Queensland in the third Origin.

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