North Queensland 32 def Canberra 24
The Raiders had the NRL's hottest team on the ropes before the North Queensland Cowboys stormed back to extend Canberra's Townsville misery.
Chasing their first win in Townsville since 2006, the Raiders silenced the Cowboys faithful when they ran away to an 18-0 lead in the opening half.
But a brilliant Cowboys fightback, led by Johnathan Thurston, secured a 32-24 victory in front of a crowd of 16,207 on Saturday night.
The Raiders (8-11) remain outside the top eight and will now have to win at least four of their last five games to reach the finals.
Meanwhile, the Cowboys (15-4) have equalled the highest amount of competition points in the club's 21-history in search of their maiden premiership. They have won 15 of their past 16 games.
The Raiders are still in a decent position to reach the finals given the don't play any team above them on the ladder for the rest of the season.
However, hooker Josh Hodgson will have scans on a high ankle sprain while Blake Austin (dangerous tackle) and Edrick Lee (tripping) were placed on report.
Raiders coach Ricky Stuart said a lack of possession cost his side dearly.
"I don't think you can say we totally fell apart, it was a weight of possession," Stuart said.
"At the 30-minute mark, they had 75 per cent of the footy. It wouldn't matter what footy team you're playing on the night, if they have 75 per cent of possession for 30 minutes of the game, you're going to be on the back pedal and doing it real tough, and that's exactly what it was."
Stuart said the Raiders showed in their earlier meeting this season, when they to the Cowboys by one point, that they could match it with them.
Errors at the wrong time haunted the Raiders.
Leading 18-0 just before half-time, centre Joey Leilua dropped the ball cold, with Cowboys five-eighth Michael Morgan scoring from the next set of six.
Then, early in the second half, Raiders prop David Shillington attempted an offload, the ball was loose and ended up in the hands of Cowboys winger Antonio Winterstein who raced away to score.
Raiders halfback Sam Williams — a late addition to the side from a torn pectoral muscle — said they were guilty of letting the Cowboys back into the game.
"We were our own worst enemies at times and overplayed a little bit," Williams said.
"Possession is always going to kill you. We did a lot of work (defensively), it's hot conditions up here, we knew that going into the game so we didn't execute the way we would have liked."
The Raiders trained wearing extra layers of clothing and wore beanies during the week to simulate the drastic change in temperature between Canberra and Townsville.
After Morgan scored a minute before half-time to give the home side valuable momentum going into the sheds, Thurston put Gavin Cooper over the line with a trademark move.
The Raiders were akin to a 50-1 longshot in the Melbourne Cup — doing their level best to hang on for the final 800 metres as the favourites charged home.
Winterstein's try gave the Cowboys a burst of energy, but what came next was classic Thurston.
The champion halfback threw a miracle pass around the back of a Raiders defender to put Jake Granville under the posts as the Cowboys hit the lead for the first time.
Winterstein crossed for his double as the Cowboys twisted the knife.
Two Thurston penalty goals extended the lead to 14 points before Kurt Baptiste scored a consolation try in the final minute.
