Cowboys late to the party with last-gasp win over Warriors

North Queensland have honoured Johnathan Thurston's 250th NRL match with a heart-stopping final minute win over the Warriors this evening at 1300SMILES Stadium in front of 16,038 fans.

The Warriors grabbed hold of the contest early, scoring after just five minutes through a rampaging Konrad Hurrell. A diabolical restart from Lachlan Coote gave the Warriors a penalty on halfway and from the following set the Warriors doubled their lead, with Jonathan Wright the beneficiary, scoring in the corner. Johnson converting tries both had the visitors up by twelve in as many minutes.

Coote went on to make amends for his kick-off errors as the first half wore on, with the livewire fullback setting up Jake Granville for the Cowboys' first try shortly after the 20-minute mark. Ten minutes later he did more of the same, linking up with Thurston to put Kane Linnett over out wide.

The Warriors clawed a try back before the break through Solomone Kata who benefited from a Hurrell break earlier in the set. Townsend's failure to convert meant the visitors led only by 6 at halftime.

An early arm wrestle in the second half gave way to another Warriors try after 50 minutes, with Manu Vatuvei shrugging off several defenders to slam the ball down. The 12-point lead was then cut back to six with a spilled bomb by Warriors' fullback Tuimoala Lolohea, seeing Coote finally grab a four-pointer of his own.

A penalty goal for the Warriors put the margin back to eight points before the Cowboys came home with a wet sail in the final ten minutes. The hosts were able to take advantage of several errors by the men from New Zealand, with Granville crossing for his second try with nine minutes on the clock, then grabbing the match-winner out of dummy half in the closing moments of the contest.

It was a typical erractic display from the Warriors and leaves them languishing outside the eight going into next Saturday's important ANZAC Day clash with the resurgent Titans at Mt Smart Stadium, kicking off at 11:45am AEST. The Cowboys have now won four straight games after losing their opening three, and will face a struggling Newcastle side at Hunter Stadium on ANZAC Day at 2pm.

NORTH QUEENSLAND COWBOYS (28)
Tries: Jake Granville (3), Kane Linnett, Lachlan Coote
Conversions: Johnathan Thurston (4/5)

WARRIORS (24)
Tries: Konrad Hurrell, Jonathan Wright, Solomone Kata, Manu Vatuvei
Conversions: Shaun Johnson (3/3), Chad Townsend (0/1)
Penalty Goals: Shaun Johnson (1/1)

The Cowboys on the up, the Warriors flailing mid-table. These 1995-inaugurated sides face off in this 20th-anniversary clash which is likely to tell us a bit about the season ahead for each side.

Kickoff is 5:30pm, both sides are 1-17. Join us soon!

Plenty of cardboard headgear around the ground as the Townsville faithful are gathered to celebrate Johnathan Thurston's 250th NRL match. The Warriors trot out onto 1300SMILES in their black kit, followed closely by the Cowboys, sporting their commemorative jersey ahead of next weekend's 100 year ANZAC Day celebrations.

We are underway! Cowboys with the ball first, Tamou hits it up.

3: First penalty of the day is for the Cowboys, Sutton rules a hand was impeding the ruck. Thurston kicks for touch and the hosts start from 40m out.

5: Coote's put a kick in which has found O'Neill on the wing, he grubbers for Lolohea who collects it and is tackled.

5: VIDEO REFEREE | Warriors kick it off their 20m, Thurston spills it on halfway, Bodene Thompson scoops up the scraps, gets it to Konrad Hurrell who races away. Looks like green lights...

5: TRY WARRIORS
Scored by Konrad Hurrell. Kick to come.
Hurrell's raced away after JT's botched mid-field catch and scored the opener!

6: SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION WARRIORS
Conversion attempt by Shaun Johnson successful.
SJ lands the extras early on.

8: Cowboys kickoff is rubbish, out on the full. Warriors halfway penalty.

9: TRY WARRIORS
Scored by Jonathan Wright. Kick to come.
WOW! Numbers to the right and Jono Wright has a try in the corner!

10: SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION WARRIORS
Conversion attempt by Shaun Johnson successful.
And the sideline conversion is perfect from Johnson again. 1300SMILES is silent. What a start from the visitors!

11: Oh dear. Coote's put it dead on the full this time. Another Warriors penalty, and they start attacking from 10m out.

14: Warriors making metres at will at the moment. Cowboys doing well to stay in this contest.

14: Time off after Lachlan Coote was hit by Kata, Coote not looking 100%. Review shows no issue with the tackle and with Coote on the mend, it's play on.

16: JT puts a settling kick in which trickles into touch just short of the Warriors' line. Good chance for a breather for both sides here, Warriors scrum 10m out.

18: UNFORCED ERROR WARRIORS
Ryan Hoffman makes an unforced error.
Hoffman throws a very obvious forward pass. Cowboys finally with a chance to attack inside Warriors' territory.

19: Wright takes a last-tackle JT lobbed kick to the corner in-goal. 20m restart Warriors.

20: Ethan Lowe penalisedm Warriors with their third of the day - the first one not for a botched kickoff. They're back on the attack.

21: TRY NORTH QUEENSLAND COWBOYS
Scored by Jake Granville. Kick to come.
Coote finds space up the left and has Granville inside, the Warriors defence opens up and young Jake takes advantage of the Coote bust.

23: SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION NORTH QUEENSLAND COWBOYS
Conversion attempt by Johnathan Thurston successful.
JT adds the extras, his first points in his 250th premiership match. Great fightback by the Cowboys after the horror start.

27: All Cowboys since the try, now into their second attacking foray in the last few minutes - the previous one ending with an over-weighted grubber bouncing dead.

29: That second Cowboys set ends with all the chasers missing the ball from a JT cross-field kick, it then bounces dead and is a 20m restart for the visitors.

31: TRY NORTH QUEENSLAND COWBOYS
Scored by Kane Linnett. Kick to come.
Coote really keen to make amends and he finds Linnett who evades some air swing defence from the Warriors to crash over out wide on the left.

32: UNSUCCESSFUL CONVERSION NORTH QUEENSLAND COWBOYS
Conversion attempt by Johnathan Thurston unsuccessful.
A tougher kick than before, and Thurston's effort hits the post. No goal.

34: Cowboys with it after a Warriors error and now have a penalty. Momentum completely swinging here in Townsville!

36: UNFORCED ERROR WARRIORS
Chad Townsend makes an unforced error.
Ouch. Townsend looks for the sideline and finds it, but on the full. Cowboys ball on the Warriors' 40m.

38: TRY WARRIORS
Scored by Solomone Kata. Kick to come.
Hurrell breaks away down the right, eventually met and tackled by Morgan, but the Warrior calmly spread it left and find Kata who gets over the line.

39: UNSUCCESSFUL CONVERSION WARRIORS
Conversion attempt by Chad Townsend unsuccessful.
Not the best conversion attempt from Townsend. No attempt from Johnson after he looks to be limping away.

That will do us for the first half. All about momentum in this one, Warriors just ahead at the break.

41: We're back underway at 1300SMILES Stadium - Warriors with first use of the pill.

41: Superb kick by Johnson traps Coote in-goal. Drop-out Cowboys.

43: UNFORCED ERROR WARRIORS
Simon Mannering makes an unforced error.
Mannering attempts an offload close to the line but it fumbles forward and it's a Cowboys scrum.

47: Cowboys attack breaks down with an error.

49: VIDEO REFEREE and NO TRY for the Warriors, Solomone Kata loses it over the line, but it's actually going to be a penalty for the Warriors with the Cowboys ruled offside.

50: TRY WARRIORS
Scored by Manu Vatuvei. Kick to come.
Manu Vatuvei scores try #141, wrestles his way over the line out near the far touchline.

51: SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION WARRIORS
Conversion attempt by Shaun Johnson successful.
Two converted tries the lead now with Johnson back in control of the kicking duties, he nails it from out wide.

53: VIDEO REFEREE | Possible Cowboys try, after a diabolical knock-on by Lolohea in-goal! Coote claiming a four-pointer.

53: TRY NORTH QUEENSLAND COWBOYS
Scored by Lachlan Coote. Kick to come.
Yep - green lights! Lolohea spills the JT bomb, Coote cleans up the scraps in-goal. Margin will be back to six again shortly with the conversion.

54: SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION NORTH QUEENSLAND COWBOYS
Conversion attempt by Johnathan Thurston successful.
No dramas with that conversion for #JT250

60: Cowboys back with the momentum, peppering the Warriors line and trapping them deep over the last few minutes.

62: Warriors escape with a penalty after an offside chaser impeded play. Warriors start their set ten short of halfway.

63: Warriors go up the other end now and force a drop-out.

65: SUCCESSFUL PENALTY GOAL WARRIORS
Penalty goal attempt by Shaun Johnson successful.
Tamou concedes a penalty in front of his own posts - and the Warriors don't need an invitation to extend their lead to eight points. SJ nails it.

69: A midfield bomb from Johnson doesn't present too many issues for Winterstein who returns it easily.

70: UNFORCED ERROR WARRIORS
Konrad Hurrell makes an unforced error.
Koni spills it inside his own 30m, Gavin Cooper comes away with it and the hosts are back hot on the attack!

71: VIDEO REFEREE | possible TRY to Granville for the Cowboys. Looks good...

71: TRY NORTH QUEENSLAND COWBOYS
Scored by Jake Granville. Kick to come.
Granville grabs a double turning away from dummy-half. He's now subbed off in favour of Kostjasyn.

72: SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION NORTH QUEENSLAND COWBOYS
Conversion attempt by Johnathan Thurston successful.
No worries converting from Thurston, margin reduced to two.

73: Coote bomb... but Wright catches it easily. Great stuff from the Warriors winger.

73: UNFORCED ERROR WARRIORS
Nathan Friend makes an unforced error.
Vatuvei plays the ball and Nathan Friend is deemed to have lost it. Cowboys scrum 30m out!!

74: UNFORCED ERROR NORTH QUEENSLAND COWBOYS
Michael Morgan makes an unforced error.
The Cowboys spread the ball, Thurston's ball to Morgan is dropped by his five-eighth. Warriors out of gaol on that occasion.

75: UNFORCED ERROR WARRIORS
Konrad Hurrell makes an unforced error.
Hurrell tries batting back a ball for Matulino but it's gone well forward. Cowboys handover on their own 20m line.

77: This one will bring rain... a bomb comes down and Morgan knocks it on. Warriors ball on their own line.

78: Cowboys on the last... through hands... touched by Warriors - SIX MORE! On the line!

79: VIDEO REFEREE | Possible try... make that possible HAT TRICK for Granville! He's got it down! IT'S A TRY!

79: TRY NORTH QUEENSLAND COWBOYS
Scored by Jake Granville. Kick to come.
Easy! What a finish! Granville grabs a treble!

80: SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION NORTH QUEENSLAND COWBOYS
Conversion attempt by Johnathan Thurston successful.
Lead goes to four points inside the final minute...

80: Short kickoff taken easily by Moga in the air. Cowboys will run the clock down!

FULLTIME! Cowboys snatch it at the death to give Thurston a win in his 250th!