Canberra Raiders get home Scott free over North Queensland Cowboys

Scott scored the match winning try and then celebrated by putting his finger to his lips - perhaps to silence the crowd, but more likely the critics.

Canberra have also had their doubters, but they've overcome a crippling injury toll to keep themselves in fifth place.

The Raiders now travel to Penrith to face the ladder-leading Panthers off the back of three consecutive wins.

Raiders coach Ricky Stuart thought they were lucky to come away with the two points.

"We were a bit scrappy. I thought we were very loose in a lot of our footy and we were very lucky to win," he said.

"I don't think we deserved to win, but we found a way to win at the end and that was the important thing.

"It's nice not to have a loss to jolt you back into gear. It's a hard road trip up here ... credit to Josh [Hannay]'s team.

"He seems to have done a good job with them so far. They certainly played with a lot of spirit."

Thank god for the captain's challenge though, as Canberra's favourite NRL referee Ben Cummins was saved from the same blushes he had after last year's grand final.

Instead of a "six again" call, this time he ruled Dunamis Lui offside when fielding a grubber that rebounded off Tom Starling, only for the subsequent captain's challenge to overturn the call.

Otherwise the Cowboys would've had a shot at goal from directly in front to level the scores late in the game.

Given how important prop Josh Papalii is to the Green Machine, they'll have one nervous eye on the match review committee after their talisman was put on report for an elbow to the back of the Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow's head.

But the contact on the Cowboys fullback appeared to be accidental. He was his usual enforcer self, running for more than 100 metres in the first half and ending up with 203 for the game.

Not only that, he played the entire opening 40 minutes in the stifling heat and humidity, produced an important one-on-one strip to relieve the pressure on his side early in the second half.

Jordan Rapana had a few nervous moments and some great ones as he deputised for Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad (finger) at fullback.

A few fumbles were more than counterbalanced by some powerful runs and he went within inches of scoring a try in the second half - not to mention a great read on a grubber as the Cowboys threatened late in the game.

John Bateman looked like he'd barely missed a beat and produced four tackle busts in his first game this season, finishing with 163m.

Plus he threw the pass that put Scott over in the corner.

Stuart felt Bateman's return added some starch to their right edge.

"That's what happens when you've got a little bit of class in your squad," he said.

"It came off Johnny Bateman there and Curtis did a really good job to actually get the ball down.

"Good players make the best of limited opportunity. That's what makes them so good. Having Johnny Bateman back there really stiffened that right edge up."

Stuart had put a focus on their start, but his side was still sluggish and took just three minutes to be behind.

Cowboys hooker Reece Robson caught them napping and darted out of dummy half for a soft try from close range.

The Cowboys three middles dominated the first quarter - Jordan McLean, Jason Taumalolo and Francis Molo all churning through the metres. Taumalolo ending with 250m.

But suddenly the Green Machine burst into life with their right edge producing a lovely move to level the scores.

A series of catch-and-passes ended up with Nick Cotric putting a big fend on Cowboys half Ben Hampton before he put his own halfback George Williams away to cap off an 80m effort.

Cotric's power would've had both Raiders and Canterbury fans cheering, with the Raiders right wing heading to the Bulldogs on a three-year deal at the end of the season.

Raiders enforcer Josh Papalii started to turn the tide the other way, putting in a Herculean opening shift - running for 128m, with an offload and 25 tackles as he played the entire first half.

It was a half Canberra finished in front, with a Jarrod Croker penalty goal the only thing separating the two sides - after Cowboys winger Kyle Feldt put a forced drop-out out on the full.

A Mitch Dunn one-on-one strip on Dunamis Lui put the home side in front when John Asiata put Taumalolo through a hole.

Asiata, returning from a knee injury, limped from the field after twisting awkwardly in a tackle before being able to come back on at the end.

But they'd used all their interchanges bringing Asiata back on - leaving them with 12 men for a short period.

"I thought Canberra were out on their feet and I went for the killer blow with about 10 minutes to go and got Johnny A back out there," Cowboys coach Hannay said.

"He got hurt and we were down to 12 men.

"We defended our line with 12 men and there's been times this year when we haven't shown a capacity to defend it with 13. Defensively we were enormous."

But the lead didn't last long with Scott finishing off some nice play from England internationals George Williams and John Bateman to dive over in the corner.

Poor form and an arm infection forced and then kept him out of the side.