Essendon comfortably won its round-six clash against Hawthorn on Saturday night but Knights believes his team was unlucky to concede a goal during a drama-filled third term.
The Bombers led by 23 points at the 19-minute mark of the quarter when Henry Slattery casually wandered across the goal line.
Hawks forward Lance Franklin was close to the Essendon defender, but umpire Scott McLaren ruled the Bomber was not under sufficient pressure to force the ball through for a behind.
McLaren awarded the Hawks a free kick, and Franklin goaled from directly in front - leaving Knights bemused and vowing to pursue the matter with the AFL.
“It’s not the way the rule’s been taught,” the Essendon coach said after the match.
“I felt Franklin was within about a metre and I just have to take it up with [AFL umpires’ boss] Jeff Gieschen this week for clarification.
“I’ve seen that play happen 20, 30 times in the season thus far and it’s always been a kick-in.
“So I just have to follow that up with Jeff and do it through the right channels and we’ll go from there.”
While Franklin kicked another goal 30 seconds later to cut the deficit to 11 points, it made no difference to the end result as the Bombers stormed clear in the final term to convincingly win by 43 points.
Despite the 15.16 (106) to 9.9 (63) victory, Knights said his club could only enjoy the four points momentarily.
“I don’t think we’re back on track,” he said.
‘We had some small victories tonight in the way we played … but it’s one win.
“It’s been probably a tough five or six weeks for both clubs, so we’re just thankful we won tonight and go to that 2-4 record.”
Knights said he was proud of the way his team - and club - had responded in the wake of its Anzac Day humiliation against Collingwood six days earlier.
Commentators had also weighed in on Knights’ coaching style, questioning him and his side’s attacking focus.
But it was an aggressive, defensively-minded Bombers that got the job done, laying a club-record 107 tackles against the Hawks.
Knights said that statistic meant little.
“I think you only get respect in this league if you win a premiership and show you can defend over a long period of time,” he said.
“So that’s not going to change. That changes with good performance over time.
“I think a plus for us tonight was we looked after the ball better, so we didn’t get counter-punched on the turnover. Teams have been slaughtering us on the counter-punch because we haven’t been looking after the ball.
“I think we did look after the ball better, and to keep a team under 10 goals was a good achievement.”
The coach also praised the individual efforts of veteran Dustin Fletcher - who kept Jarryd Roughead goalless - and Henry Slattery who quelled the influence of dangerous Hawk Cyril Rioli.
