NRL: Knights fight back to reel in Cowboys

Knights halfback Jarrod Mullen evades the defence of Johnathan Thurston of the Cowboys during their match in Newcastle on Saturday. Photo / Getty Images

NEWCASTLE - A magnificent second-half performance from Jarrod Mullen helped to keep Newcastle's NRL season alive as the Knights came from behind to beat North Queensland 32-26 at EnergyAustralia Stadium on Saturday.

Trailing 22-8 at halftime, the Knights scored four second-half tries to reel in the Cowboys, whose hopes of making the finals took a huge dent.

With Johnathan Thurston in fine form in the opening stanza, scoring two tries and setting one up for Willie Tonga, the Cowboys had taken a deserved lead into halftime.

The Knights made the perfect start when Adam MacDougall opened the scoring in the opening minute after a perfectly-weighted kick from Mullen was knocked back into his path by Akulia Uate allowing Kurt Gidley to add the extras.

A controversial penalty given against Uate, who was a late inclusion for the hosts after Keith Lulia injured himself in the warm-up, got the Cowboys back into the game as Thurston took a quick tap penalty and dived over unchallenged from close range.

A Gidley penalty increased the Knights' lead once again before the Cowboys scored two tries in quick succession to seize the initiative.

It was Thurston again who was the scorer for the visitors after his quick exchange of passes with Grant Rovelli left the Knights lead-footed in defence allowing the Queensland and test halfback a clear path to touch down under the posts.

And matters got worse for the hosts less than two minutes later when Cowboys hooker Anthony Watts regathered his own chip-kick to score a tremendous try.

The Knights started the second period in identical fashion to the first with MacDougall scoring again after some brilliant work from Isaac De Gois eight minutes after the restart.

And just as the Cowboys did earlier, the hosts added a second four-pointer from their next set when Chris Houston reacted quickest to chase down a grubber-kick from Mullen to score his sixth try of the season.

Gidley's fourth successful kick cut the deficit to 22-20 before the Cowboys then suffered a big blow when explosive fullback Matt Bowen limped off with a knee injury.

The Knights then took advantage of the absence of Bowen's pace, with Mullen racing 75 metres to score, leaving a trail of Cowboys in his wake after some great work from Gidley.

The night got better for rookie Knights coach Rick Stone when De Gois and Mullen combined to tee up Wes Naqaima (70th) to cap a fine fightback.

Gidley's sixth successful goal put the game out of the Cowboys' reach and although Michael Bani did cross for a late try, it proved to be a mere consolation.

MacDougall will face a nervous weekend after he was put on report in the final minute after a high tackle on Travis Burns.

- AAP