Gr-eight win for North Queensland Cowboys beating Brisbane in Queensland derby

THE Cowboys leapt into the NRL’s top eight after desperately holding on against the Broncos on Friday night in Townsville.

THE Cowboys leapt into the NRL’s top eight after desperately holding on against the Broncos on Friday night in Townsville.

A 73rd minute try to game-day promotion Ethan Lowe sealed the result as the Broncos willed their way towards back into the game.

Daniel Vidot tackled by Gavin Cooper.

A late field goal to Johnathan Thurston and a Rory Kostjasyn try in the final two minutes then sealed the 27-14 win in front of 21,340 fans.

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The Cowboys hadn’t beaten the Broncos in their last three meetings but came out flying to take a 14-0 lead inside 17 minutes.

But it was to be their last score for nearly 60 minutes as the Broncos forced their way back into the contest with two second half tries to halfback Ben Hunt.

Lowe, who came onto the bench as Scott Bolton started at lock to replace the injured Tariq Sims, pushed his way past Ben Barba with just under nine minutes to go.

Ashton Sims of the Cowboys is tackled by Alex Glenn and Andrew M'Cullough.

Dale Copley kept it alive with a try in the corner with just over five minutes left but Thurston and Kostjasyn kept the Broncos at arm’s length.

The Cowboys had been under the pump for much of the second half and the Broncos would have had the lead had winger Jack Reid been able to get clean hands on a Ben Barba grubber.

Matt Scott charges as Michael Morgan looms in support.

Early on, it was the Michael Morgan and Matt Scott show, both players involved in the Cowboys early tries and finished with strong statistics.

Co-captain Matt Scott ran 103m in the first 18 minutes and finished the match with a marathon 235 from 19 runs.

He busted out of five tackles and broke the line twice.

Scott bagged his third try of the season, while Morgan’s 160m from 16 runs was built on a stellar line break which set up Kane Linnett for the Cowboys second on 17 minutes.

Morgan’s try-saving tackle on a flying Matt Gillett in the fourth minute seemed to pump up the Cowboys and showed the 22-year-old is growing in his makeshift role.

Johnathan Thurston comes off the field after a head knock.

But just as the Cowboys were on a high, the crowd was left holding its breath as Thurston was taken from the field for a concussion check.

The Queensland pivot hit his head on Dale Copley’s shoulder while trying to make a tackle, but was thrown back into the action two minutes before half-time.

Cowboys halfback Robert Lui attempts to get past Josh McGuire.

Cowboys coach Paul Gren had called for his side to show some ruthlessness to close out games and his words rang true as the Broncos forced themselves back into the game.

Brisbane played without Dave Hala in the second half.

NORTH QUEENSLAND 27 (R Kostjasyn K Linnett E Lowe M Scott tries J Thurston 5 goals J Thurston field goal) bt BRISBANE 14 (B Hunt 2 D Copley tries C Parker goal) at 1300 SMILES Stadium. Referee: Gerard Sutton, Gavin Reynolds. Crowd: 21,340.

Re-live the action in our blog below: