Newcastle skipper Chris Houston crashed over just before the break as the Knights and North Queensland went into halftime locked at 12-all in Saturday night’s NRL match at Hunter Stadium.
The Knights looked like paying the price for their inability to convert half chances after being held up over the line on three occasions during an opening stanza which featured big momentum swings.
The home side started strongly with Junior Sau backing up a nice Darius Boyd break, but the Cowboys then began to dominate with Matthew Scott denied due to a double movement.
North Queensland were denied what appeared a fair try to Kane Linnett by the video referee, justice prevailing five minutes later when Ashley Graham scored his tenth try of the season.
Ray Thompson finished off a slick Cowboys backline movement for a 12-6 Cowboys lead, the visitors seemingly set to take their advantage to the break before Jarrod Mullen laid on a superb short ball for Houston to score.
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