North Queensland Cowboys came from eight points down to defeat West Tigers 22-14 and take a step closer to finishing in the NRL top eight.
The side from Townsville, who arrested a four match losing streak with the win, fell behind early when Aaron Woods dummied and strolled over to open the scoring, Tuimoala Lolohea improving the score to six.
North Queensland soon levelled the scores when Te Maire Martin also dummied through the line.
Wests took a slender four point lead into the break when Josh Aloiai barged his way over the line.
The Tigers extended the gap to eight as Jack Littlejohn broke the line to feed Malakai Watene Zelezniak.
The Cowboys were quick to react and two quick fire Kyle Feldt tries had them in front by two. First, a sweeping move to the right found the winger in plenty of space and a kick from Michael Morgan was grounded by Feldt under the posts.
North Queensland sealed the win with Morgan taking a clever Jake Granville banana kick to score. Ethan Lowe’s third conversion made the final margin eight.
Tigers: 1 James Tedesco, 2 David Nofoaluma, 3 Esan Marsters, 11 Michael Chee-Kam, 5 Malakai Watene Zelezniak, 6 Tuimoala Lolohea, 17 Jack Littlejohn, 8 Aaron Woods, 9 Matt McIlwrick, 10 Tim Grant, 18 Joel Edwards, 12 Josh Aloiai, 13 Matthew Eisenhuth; Interchanges: 14 Alex Twal, 15 Sauaso Sue, 16 Bayley Sironen, 19 Ava Seumanufagai
Tries: Woods, Aloiai, Watene Zelezniak; Goals: Lolohea
Cowboys: 19 Lachlan Coote, 2 Kyle Feldt, 3 Javid Bowen, 4 Kane Linnett, 5 Antonio Winterstein, 6 Te Maire Martin, 7 Michael Morgan, 14 John Asiata, 9 Jake Granville, 10 Scott Bolton, 18 Gavin Cooper, 12 Ethan Lowe, 13 Jason Taumalolo; Interchanges: 1 Ben Hampton, 8 Corey Jensen, 11 Coen Hess, 17 Shuan Fensom
Tries: Martin, Feldt 2, Morgan; Goals: Lowe 3
Full coverage of all the weekend’s NRL matches will feature in Monday’s issue of League Express, available in the shops and online from Sunday evening.