They left it late, but the Cowboys have extended their run of NRL wins to six straight after beating the Bulldogs 23-16 in Townsville.
Cruising at 12-0 at halftime, North Queensland surrendered 16 unanswered points in the second half.
But late tries to Gavin Cooper and a superb 70m effort from Michael Morgan allowed them to snatch the lead back before five-eighth Johnathan Thurston sealed the win with his 77th minute field goal.
The Bulldogs came into the match missing James Graham and Josh Reynolds to suspension as well as Brett Morris and Greg Eastwood to injury although they did welcome back Josh Morris from an ankle complaint.
The Cowboys had their own concerns with Scott Bolton's freak fishing injury forcing him to the sideline along with Jason Taumalolo and Tautau Moga.
Points were hard to find in the first half, although the Cowboys enjoyed the bulk of possession in enemy territory.
The home side crossed three times only to be denied legitimately by the video referee before Michael Morgan broke the deadlock in the 30th minute when he used his show and go to bamboozle the defensive line by beating Morris over the line.
Winger Matthew Wright extended the lead with his try in the shadows of halftime, Johnathan Thurston converting both tries from the sideline to give his side a 12-0 advantage at the break.
Josh Jackson got the Bulldogs back into the match with his controversial 49th minute try, with the video referee giving the green light despite replays showing a possible double movement.
Four minutes later the visitors were in again, Corey Thompson crossing before Trent Hodkinson's conversion locked the scores at 12-all.
Former Cowboy Curtis Rona then reminded his old side what are missing, extending his lead at the top of the 2015 try scorers' list with an intercept and an 80m dash to steal the lead in the 62nd minute.
Cooper burrowed over in the 72nd minute before Morgan sliced through three minutes late to steal the win.
Cowboys coach Paul Green was pleased with his players' efforts under fire, with momentum shifting the Bulldogs' way when fullback Lachlan Coote was bundled into touch on a kick return midway through the second half.
"We were going set for set with them and we probably just looked for something a little bit cheap there with Cootie's kick return, giving them an opportunity," he said.
"We weren't able to defend that error.
"So they got their tails up again and scored some more points.
"It was a big effort from our blokes to just absorb that pressure and stay composed enough to finish it off."
Bulldogs coach Des Hasler said there was plenty of positives to take out of the match, but said the easy metres surrendered in the first half ultimately cost them.
"When you get field position like they were getting then you get those opportunities to score points," he said.
"There's enough there for us to work on, to keep moving forward.
"I was pretty pleased with the way we fought back in the second half against a Cowboys side that is playing pretty well at the moment."
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