Titans take the title as kings of Queensland

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Gold Coast Titans v North Queensland Cowboys

The Gold Coast Titans have held their place in the top eight after dismantling the North Queensland Cowboys 36-14 in an all Queensland affair on Sunday afternoon.

Scoring seven tries to three in a match that failed to reach any great heights, the Titans enhanced their finals aspirations with another strong performance built off the back of Ashley Taylor and Toby Sexton in the halves.

Coming close to scoring in the opening minutes only for Corey Thompson to lose the ball over the try line, the Titans posted first points through Brian Kelly (17th minute) after Taylor exposed Valentine Holmes defending in the front line with a well-placed kick.

The Titans extended their lead a few minutes later with AJ Brimson (23rd minute) swooping on a loose ball before pinning his ears back to take the score out to 10-0.

Entering the game midway through the first half, David Fifita (32nd minute) made an immediate impact by running onto a short pass from Brimson to put the hosts beyond two converted tries.

Showing plenty of courage after losing Murray Taulagi in the opening minute of the game, the Cowboys were rewarded with points just before halftime with Tom Dearden (37th minute) picking up a ricocheting kick and racing the length of the field.

Needing to win in order to keep pace with a host of teams vying for the final two positions in the top eight, the Titans signalled their intentions to attack as Kelly (50th minute) collected his second after an audacious offload from Beau Fermor in the lead up.

Taking advantage of poor discipline and ball control from the Cowboys, Fermor (53rd minute) pounced on a short kick from Sexton to put the Titans up 26-4.

The Cowboys halted the one-way flow of points with a memorable effort to Holmes (59th minute) who put himself in the right position to finish off a kick from Kyle Feldt aimed towards the posts.

The Titans brought up 30 points for the third week in a row after Thompson kicked twice to set up Taylor (68th minute) for his second try of the season.

Kyle Feldt (74th minute) contorted his body to cross for a consolation effort before Patrick Herbert (78th minute) rounded out the scoring in the shadows of fulltime.

Next week, the Titans face the Rabbitohs on Saturday afternoon, while the Cowboys will host the Tigers later on the same day.