Pressure is building on the Cowboys after their chaotic season took another sombre hit with a 28-10 loss to an in-form South Sydney last night at ANZ Stadium. The red-and-green machine rolled on, grinding out the Cowboys to claim their eighth win in nine games and temporarily move to the apex of the Telstra Premiership. Alarm bells are ringing for the Cowboys, who slumped to their fifth loss of the season and will officially crash out of the top eight if the Raiders beat Newcastle in Canberra tomorrow. The five-tries-to-two defeat continued the Cowboys' nightmare stretch at Homebush, where they have now lost nine consecutive games stretching back to 2006. North Queensland were by no means poor last night. They led 4-0 early and battled bravely to stay in the contest when a Greg Inglis try in the 42nd minute extended Souths' 12-4 halftime lead to a seemingly unassailable 18-4. Johnathan Thurston and his Cowboys teammates look on after a Rabbitohs try. North Queensland were rated among the premiership favourites in pre-season, but on current form they must lift a gear quickly to be a top-four contender. While coach Neil Henry isn't about to hit the panic button, he concedes the Cowboys are some way off their optimum. "I'm not overly concerned ... but we need to get back and have a win," he said. There is lots of teams around us. Souths are consistent each week, they are a tough team to beat, Melbourne are the same, Manly, the Roosters ... they are the four teams that have been the most consistent week in, week out. We need to get a few things executed a bit better. We can't fault the effort in what we are doing but we need the whole package to get the wins against the good sides. The visitors didn't get the rub-of-the-green with the video referee last night. They had two 50-50 calls disallowed, but in clutch moments the Rabbitohs held their nerve and found the extra gear currently missing at the Cowboys. "We made them look pretty good," lamented prop Matt Scott, playing his 150th game. It was in our own hands. We need to take control of our game. It's little lapses at the moment that are killing us.