A late burst from Canterbury secured a 22-20 win over North Queensland in their NRL battle of the 2010 also-rans at Dairy Farmers Stadium on Saturday night.

Leading for 75 minutes, the Cowboys were mowed down by a rampaging Bulldogs outfit who ran in three tries in four minutes at the death.

The home team piled on 10 points in the opening eight minutes, led 14-6 at halftime and were 14 ahead with just 11 minutes left to play before Bulldogs hooker Michael Ennis darted over from dummy-half to spark the comeback.

Bryson Goodwin scored off the very next set to ensure a tense finish and Steve Turner levelled the scores in the 75th minute after dashing 90 metres when a terrible Matt Bowen kick landed in his arms with not a Cowboy in the way.

Goodwin then played hero with his sideline conversion securing the unlikely win.

Cowboys centre Ty Williams bagged a double in his 149th game in his final season.

He opened the scoring in the first minute following a Bulldogs forward pass and then dragged Turner and Daniel Rauicava over the line in the 20th minute.

His namesake John Williams did well to ground a kick from stand-in halfback Aaron Payne in the sixth minute, the winger also converting twice to open up a 14-0 lead.

Centre-cum-second-rower Jamal Idris notched up his side's first points late in the first half, but the litany of dropped ball continued to plague the Bulldogs.

Grant Rovelli planted the ball down for what looked like a match-winning 20-6 lead in the 60th minute after a Bowen kick wrong-footed Bulldogs fullback Luke Patten.

But the late hat-trick of tries to the visitors ensured the Cowboys' horror season continues, the club sitting last of the competing teams with just five wins and having lost nine of the past 10 clashes.

Under-20s forward and Kirwan State High School student Jason Taumalolo made history, making his debut as the youngest ever Cowboy in the club's 16 years in the NRL.

Taumalolo took to the field in the 65th minute at the tender age of just 17 years and 82 days, almost a year younger than the previous holder of the mantle, club legend Josh Hannay.

He was a late replacement for Clint Amos, whose partner Hannah gave birth to their first child earlier in the day.

The night was further soured for the Cowboys with Queensland State of Origin centre Willie Tonga going off shortly after halftime with an adductor strain in his groin.

Bulldogs coach Kevin Moore conceded that his club got away with a great escape, but the fact the season was over for both teams affected the quality of the game.

"We didn't play good footy tonight, neither team (did), with not a lot to play for at the end of the season, it led to that sort of game, didn't it?

"The bottom line was it wasn't a great game of footy and I think we're obviously happy to get away with it at the back end."

Cowboys coach Neil Henry felt the loss was especially hard to stomach after judging his team was the better for most of the error-riddled game.

"It certainly does (hurt)," he said.

"We've been in this situation a couple of times this year.

"We had some good field position in the second half and we didn't capitalise, a couple of times we got excited and pushed a couple of passes.

"But in the end a lot of effort went into no result."

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