Cowboys kick home against Knights

The Cowboys have wrestled a 22-14 win from the Knights in a hard-fought encounter in Townsville on Saturday night.

The boot of Johnathan Thurston proved the difference as both teams finished with three tries apiece.

Thurston converted all three of the Cowboys' four-pointers and potted two penalty goals for good measure as North Queensland sent the retiring Aaron Payne out a winner in his final regular-season home game in Townsville. https://www.goldengooseshoesit.com/

Cowboys full-back Matt Bowen told Grandstand the popular Payne will be hard to replace.

"He'll be a big loss next year. He's a big part of our core and a big part of our go-forward as well," Bowen said.

"We're going to miss him next year. Hopefully we can send him out a winner this year and get as close to the grand final as we can."

An early double to Knights centre Timana Tahu threatened to ruin Payne's farewell but tries to Thurston, Matt Bowen and Brent Tate turned the tables on the visitors.

It took just four minutes for Tahu to register the first try of the night as the Knights raced out to early lead.

But the Cowboys hit back with a vengeance as stand-in half-back Anthony Mitchell put Thurston into a hole before sending Bowen over for his 12th try of the season soon after.

And Mitchell had a hand in Brent Tate's try as the Cowboys scored 18 unanswered points before the Knights hauled themselves back into the contest courtesy of a second from Tahu and another try to his centre partner Dane Gagai.

Despite collecting the two competition points, Cowboys coach Neil Henry admitted his team lost focus midway through the gritty encounter.

"That's two weeks in a row now we've got off to good starts and it's been a bit scrappy in the middle," Henry said.

"We've come home and ground out a win against two sides (St George Illawarra and Newcastle) that have to win to be a chance of being there (in the finals).

"So when their mindset's like that they certainly have thrown the ball around ... the Dragons did it last week and the Knights did it tonight."

The Knights were held scoreless in the second half and coach Wayne Bennett said it was another disappointing result for his struggling side.

"The season's been over for a while for us, to be honest with you," Bennett said.

"To be where we Golden Goose Outlet want to be, we've got to be a lot more consistent than what we are.

"We just haven't been able to nail that as well as I would have liked this year.

"But our effort was great out there tonight."

Cowboys: 22 (J Thurston, M Bowen, B Tate tries; J Thurston 3/3 cons, 2/2 pens)

Knights: 14 (T Tahu 2, D Gagai tries; T Roberts 1/3 cons)