The season of the North Queensland Cowboys has gone from bad to worse after the Townsville club fell 27-10 to the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs at 1300SMILES Stadium this evening.
It was Canterbury's game from the outset, the blue-and-whites taking advantage of an early spate of penalties to take a 4-0 lead from two goals to Moses Mbye. It wouldn't be til the halfway point of the first half that either side would cross the line, that honour going to the visitors through Marcelo Montoya.
Following the enterprising opening try, the Bulldogs pushed their lead to twelve points with another Mbye penalty goal at the 23 minute mark. Ten minutes later the Cowboys looked to have bagged their first try but Jason Taumalolo lost it across the line.
From that no-try, the visitors turned the game in their favour once more with Raymond Faitala-Mariner going over five minutes from halftime, off a perfect short ball by Greg Eastwood.
Canterbury added another point to their tally on the halftime siren with Kieran Foran pushing the scoreline to 19-0 through a field goal 10 metres out right in front.
Having lost Asipeli Fine to the sin bin for repeated infringements prior to halftime, the Bulldogs held strong after the break as the Cowboys came at them at breakneck speed, but the visitors were able to hold their opponents out and once Fine restored their complement to 13, Elliott crashed his way over, with the converted try setting the 'Dogs up with a 25-0 lead and half an hour to play.
Canterbury defended desperately for much of the rest of the game, restricting the Cowboys to two tries - both down the Morris twins' wing. Feldt took advantage of a wrong-footed Brett in the 62nd minute before Hampton crashed over through a broken defensive line after the final siren. A penalty goal five minutes from time was the only addition to the 'Dogs score.
Next week the Bulldogs face an inconsistent Roosters at home on Thursday, while the Cowboys are at home again, hosting the Titans next Saturday night.