The North Queensland Cowboys upset St George Illawarra 14-12 after Dragons' half Matthew Head missed a conversion five minutes from fulltime to tie the NRL match.

Dragons reserve Ben Creagh had latched onto a grubber from five-eighth Daniel Holdsworth to score and give Head a chance to send the game at WIN Stadium in Wollongong into extra time.

Head, who had missed with his previous two attempts, took the conversion even though regular kicker Mark Riddell was on the field.

The match started disastrously for the Dragons in the 3rd minute when winger David Howell, on his line, passed the ball to Cowboys winger Ty Williams who dived over for the simplest of tries.

Josh Hannay converted to hand the Cowboys a 6-0 lead.

Cowboys halfback Chris Sheppard's clever kicking game set up a try scoring opportunity for forward Glen Morrison, but instead he ended up being stretchered from the field after a sickening clash with Dragons fullback Ben Hornby.

North Queensland were continually allowed to offload the ball, with the Dragons dropping off tackles and not wrapping up the ball carrier.

The Dragons were dealt a big blow in the 22nd minute when skipper Shaun Timmins left the field in agony clutching at his left shoulder, though he did return in the second half.

The Dragons finally got on the board when centre Matt Cooper took advantage of a very flat pass from Head before brushing off a feeble Sheppard tackle to score 10 metres in from the touch line.

A try either side of the break, to reserve forward David Fauimu and Matt Bowen put the Cowboys well on top at 14-4 before the Dragons started their charge.

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