Both sides came into this derby game with availability issues, the home side had seven back five players missing from their pack while city team had a number missing. Penrith partnered young prop Ryan Banks in the second row with debutant Scott Lancaster and the back row were the last three men still standing.
Home nerves were calmed after 33 seconds, they kicked off and Carlisle secured the ball and cleared their lines. The kick didn't make touch and was taken by Paul Newton on the touchline, he fed the ball inside to Jamie McNaughton who ran the ball up, stepped off his left foot, spotted a gaping hole in the city defence and his pace took him in at the corner.
The opening exchanges were all Penrith, they had a penalty attempt go wide before scoring a second try, Carlisle were penalised in their own 22 as the home side pressed hard, Newton took a quick one and caught the defence on their heels. He got within 10 yards of the posts before being dragged down, the support was there and the ball whipped right, young Richard Addison nearly went in at the corner and the forwards took over and after several drives Josh Dowson broke the last line of defence and Penrith were 10 points to the good.
Carlisle then got themselves back in the game, the home side's defence was strong but their habit of conceding silly penalties allowed the opposition to take advantage and gain good field position, they were held up over the home line at one point and their pressure was eventually rewarded with a penalty from the boot of fly half Jason Isreal.
Penrith always looked the sharper with ball in hand and none more so than McNaughton, on the half hour Mike Stephens secured good lineout ball on the 22, the ball was moved into midfield where McNaughton hit the line, beat the defensive line and then the cover with barely a hand being laid on him, this time Fearon hit the conversion and Penrith looked comfortable ay 17-3.
Carlisle again stepped up the pressure and again were held up over the Penrith line, they then had a couple of 5m scrums before combined well moving the ball left then right for Matty McCullock to go over in the corner on the stroke of half time. The score was 17-8 at the break and if the city side were to score first in the second period they would be right back in it.
Although Carlisle dominated possession in the second half they were unable to turn pressure into points and it was the home side who had the quality in the three quarters to wrap up the game. McNaughton turned provider when he joined the line and spotted the fullback out of position and put the kick through for Steven Cherry to chase, he just beat covering scrum half Matty Roper to it and toe poked it over the line and dived on it for the home side's bonus point try.
Penrith's next score was to come when Banks half charged down a Carlisle 22 drop out, the ball fell to Phil Armstrong who charged into the 22 to set up the attacking platform, the ball came to JJ Key who held off a couple of tacklers to go in next to the posts. This was just rewards for a brave performance, he stepped into the breach in an injury crisis and was clearly in some pain throughout the game.
Penrith scored two late tries to put a gloss on the final result, the first owed a lot to coach David Preston making a cameo appearance who charging down the left nearly got to the line himself, the ball was recycled and when it came to Fearon he ran it in with gusto and burst the defensive line to score. The final try was created by a classy break by James Boustead, Dowson then took a pop pass on his shoulder at pace and was clean through. By this time Sam Dudson was on for Newton at scrum half and took over the kicking duties and hit the final two conversions. For once Penrith had been less than accurate with their place kicking and 14 points had gone begging.
Carlisle ended up getting well beaten but could hold their heads up, their effort was unquestionable and they had the lions share of possession in the second half and rumbled well through the forwards with Tom Graham always to the fore, they couldn't quite match the home side behind the scrum and this was reflected on the scoreboard.