The return of Johnathan Thurston was not enough for the Cowboys who fell 24-18 to the Parramatta Eels at Dairy Farmers Stadium on Friday night.

Thought to be one to two weeks away from making his NRL return from a shoulder injury, the skipper was a late inclusion at five-eighth and made an immediate impact for North Queensland, setting up a try and kicking three goals.

His organising skills helped keep the scores locked at 12-12 at half time.

But a Timana Tahu double was enough to lift last year's grand finalists to a tense win, leaving the battered Cowboys languishing near the bottom of the ladder with just two wins from seven starts so far in 2010.

Krisnan Inu and Ben Smith also scored tries for the Eels and Luke Burt kicked four goals.

North Queensland's try-scorers were Scott Bolton, Ashley Graham and Willie Tonga.

Carl Webb could be in doubt for the Cowboys' clash next week with the Storm after badly spraining his ankle in the first half.

James Tamou picked up a shoulder injury while Steve Rapira, Gallant and Tonga all received head knocks but were able to play on.

Cowboys coach Neil Henry said the errors in his outfit's game would need to be addressed in a hurry to stem the run of losses.

"It was a very sloppy game," he said.

"We needed to take a couple opportunities but I think our first half our completion was around fifty per cent.

"Unforced errors ... they happened a few times and they rolled in for a few tries.

"That standard, it's not good enough to win games in this competition."

Relieved Parramatta boss Daniel Anderson was happy to take the win, the 2009 grand finalists' first back-to-back victory this season coming after beating Souths last weekend.

"We were hanging in there but we were scratchy," he said.

"But we were resilient and we got the points, which is good."

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