NRL: Cowboys comeback seals win

Gavin Cooper scored for the Cowboys. Photo / Getty Images

Ash Graham scored two tries and set up another as the Cowboys kept their NRL playoff hopes alive with a hard-earned win over the Titans in the Queensland derby at Skilled Park last night.

The Cowboys fought back from an eight-point halftime deficit to outscore the Titans five tries to three.

The Titans looked good in the first half but they could not sustain their effort and they were outscored 22-6 in the second spell.

The Cowboys went into the game in fifth place but without injured playmaker and goal-kicker Jonathan Thurston and after a heavy home loss to the Tigers last week.

The Titans were stuck at the bottom of the table after four consecutive losses.

But they scored first from a counter-attack after 15 minutes, William Zillman initiating it and finishing off when he gathered in a ricochet.

Seven minutes later it was Zillman again with a brilliant individual try. Zillman bounced off two tackles as he raced 40 metres to the line and Prince's conversion gave the Titans a 12-0 lead.

The Cowboys had been indecisive but they finally got it right after 27 minutes when Graham scored in the corner after Steve Michaels was unable to control the high ball and Brent Tate made a quick off-load. The Cowboys almost equalised after 35 minutes but Gavin Cooper, after stretching out to take a high bounce, lost the ball over the line and under the posts.

But it was the Titans who scored next to go into the break with a 14-6 lead, Prince kicking a simple penalty after an electrifying break by David Mead.

The Cowboys made a storming start to the second spell when Graham dived on a loose ball for his second try after Michaels tried to run the ball out from in-goal and lost the ball in the tackle.

Matt Bowen's conversion made it 14-12.

The urgency continued and the Cowboys took an 18-14 lead three minutes later when Brent Tate scored under the posts.

The Titans regained the lead, 20-18, after 15 minutes when Michaels gathered in a pin-point accurate kick to the left wing by Prince, who converted the try from close to touch.

But the Cowboys could not be denied and, 11 minutes from the end, Cooper finished off a 60-metre move with a try wide out.

Bowen's conversion gave them a four-point lead.

They made the game safe four minutes from the end when the intense pressure told and Tonga crashed through a tackle for their fifth try.

Titans 20 (W. Zillman 2, S. Michaels tries; S. Prince 4 goals)

Cowboys 28 (A. Graham 2, B. Tate, G. Cooper, W. Tonga tries M. Bowen 4 goals). Halftime: Titans 14-6.