NRL: Cowboys down Manly

Matthew Bowen (r) of the Cowboys celebrates after scoring a try with Glenn Hall and Ray Thompson of the Cowboys. Photo / Getty Images

North Queensland Cowboys 22
Manly Sea Eagles 20

North Queensland co-captain Johnathan Thurston continued his run of form tonight as the Cowboys beat a fast-finishing Manly 22-20 in the NRL game in Townsville.

Thurston, who has has been playing some of the best football of his decorated career, scored a try and kicked three conversions.

The Test and Origin halfback is leading the NRL for line break assists and added another to his season tally when he put Matt Bowen through for the Cowboys' only try of the second half.

The home side looked to be coasting to an easy win after taking a 16-4 half-time lead, but three Manly tries in the final 15 minutes gave the Cowboys a scare.

The fightback started in the 65th minute when Will Hopoate jumped onto a Daly Cherry-Evans chip.

They further cut the lead in the 71st minute when Michael Oldfield crossed in the corner after receiving a Jamie Lyon pass.

Oldfield thought he'd scored again three minutes later when he collected a Lyon flick and ran 60 metres to cross, but the video referee decided Lyon knocked on.

Anthony Watmough gave the Cowboys a further fright in the 79th minute when he beat three defenders to score.

Cowboys five-eighth Ray Thompson may have a case to answer with the match review committee after a high lift on Jason King on 60 minutes.

Manly made the most of their early attacking pressure to score first, Michael Robertson latching onto a Hopoate offload to cross in the left corner in the 12th minute.

But the Cowboys hit back to score three tries in just 10 minutes to take a comfortable half-time lead.

Bowen ran into a large gap to score on 21 minutes when he collected a Glenn Hall offload.

Thurston converted then added a try of his own on 25 minutes when he pounced on a ball dropped by Hopoate attempting a catch in-goal.

Aaron Payne then shimmied and sent the Manly defence the wrong way from dummy half on 29 minutes.

North Queensland 22 (M Bowen 2 A Payne J Thurston tries J Thurston 3 goals) bt Manly 20 (W Hopoate M Oldfield M Robertson A Watmough tries D Cherry-Evans J Lyon goals) at Dairy Farmers Stadium. Referee: Shayne Hayne, Gavin Morris. Crowd: 14,884.

- AAP