NORTHERN EAGLES have maintained their push for a semi-final spot in the NRL with a 28-12 win over the North Queensland Cowboys at Dairy Farmers Stadium.

The Eagles managed to overcome a mistake-riddled first half to score four second half tries against the disappointing Cowboys.

Trailing 6-4 at the break, the Eagles punished the Cowboys' left side defence, scoring three tries on that side of the field.

Brad Kelly, Mal Kaufusi and Jamie Goddard all scored on the left side as the Eagles continually busted the Cowboys' defence.

Kelly scored in the 47th minute and the Eagles then were twice denied in the left hand corner by the video referee.

After referee Tony Archer had warned both sides for continuous play the ball infringements, he finally lost his patience halfway through the second half, sending Eagles replacement Chad Randall to the sinbin with Cowboys Glenn Morrison following soon after.

From the penalty which saw Morrison sent to the bin, Kaufusi put in an entry for the softest try of the year.

He took the ball from a penalty tap kick 10 metres from the line and ran through a Nathan Fien tackle to score and give the Eagles a 16-6 lead after Luke Williamson's conversion with only 16 minutes left on the clock.

The Eagles were never in danger from that point of losing the game but tries to Goddard and Ben MacDougall, on the fulltime siren, stretched their winning margin.

The Cowboys' only bright light, Matthew Bowen, gave Cowboys fans something to cheer about with a try late in the second half.

Cowboys: 12
Tries: Sing, Bowen.
Goals: Hannay 2

Referee: Tony Archer

Crowd: 8,505