Johnathan Thurston's farewell tour is back on track after North Queensland survived a furious second-half onslaught from Penrith to claim a close 26-20 NRL victory in Bathurst.
The Cowboys appeared set to bomb a 20-0 lead when Peter Wallace scored two tries in the space of as many minutes to get Penrith within four points with 30 minutes to go on Friday.
Thurston then gave his team some breathing room when he latched onto a Justin O'Neill backtap, only for Panthers winger Tyrone Phillips to complete his double not long after.
However, on a night where temperatures dropped to four degrees, Thurston gave a record 10,287 crowd at Carrington Park a game to remember by nailing a clutch 70th-minute penalty goal.
The Cowboys, who had lost six of their previous seven, then held on to claim their third win of the year.
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Playing in the final season of his career, Thurston finished with a personal haul of 14 points, taking him past Jason Taylor as the fourth-highest pointscorer of all time on 2,110.
The night began horribly for the already-depleted Panthers outfit, with key forward Trent Merrin fracturing his finger in the warm-up, likely putting him out for two weeks.
North Queensland then cut Penrith's left edge to shreds, with Michael Morgan breaking his season-long drought and Ben Hampton crossing down the same channel in an opening-quarter blitz.
Then came two Dallin Watene-Zelezniak brain fades in the space of eight minutes, conceding two points with a shove on Coen Hess before being sin-binned for slapping Kyle Feldt.
A cricket score loomed when Gavin Cooper crashed over in the 33rd minute, however Panthers debutant Phillips made it a respectable 16-point deficit at the break.
Cowboys forward Shaun Fensom was also marched for a professional foul in the midst of Penrith's second-half fightback, however it wasn't enough as the Panthers fell to their third loss of the year.
Cowboys coach Paul Green admitted it was arguably their best performance of the season.
"It's hard to say not. There was definitely a noticeable improvement in terms of the old Cowboys spirit back," he said.
Panthers coach Anthony Griffin was pleased with their fight but unhappy with their start to the match.
"I could never fault our courage and our commitment," he said.
"But that first half, we couldn't have done any more to hand it over to them in that first 25-30 minutes."
