Penrith's away form this season has been brittle to say the least, it was their undoing once more last Saturday at Bradford. They had lost away the week before at Alnwick to a good side who played very well on the day, that was not the case here.
Penrith started as they so often do in these away games and conceded within the first five minutes. They looked to be working their way into the game going through the phases when they lost control of the ball at the breakdown and it bounced up invitingly for an oncoming home player who was clean away from a back line expecting the ball and he scored in the corner.
The visitors were soon back on terms after they kicked a penalty to the corner, Ian McDowell's throwing in to the lineout was accurate, as it was all afternoon, and once it was apparent the pack were not going to shunt the home forwards over the line the ball was moved infield and Ed Swale and Matt Allinson made ground and a ruck formed under the posts. Ryan Johnson came round the ruck, took a short ball off George Graham and burst through the first defensive line before shrugging the final defender off to score. Alllinson converted from in front of the posts gave his side a two point lead.
The Cumbrians moved further ahead after a bout of aerial ping pong, several punts went backwards and forwards before Graham took the next one. The chase was poor and he picked his way through the runners and then made some headway before releasing Brad Taylor who again made yards. The ball was then spun down the line where Allinson found himself in space, the defending winger hung out to mark his own man and Allinson went for thew gap and had the pace to make the line. His conversion came back off the post.
Penrith looked at this stage to have the game under control but kept the home side in the game by giving the ball away too easily and giving away cheap penalties. Bradford levelled the scores when they won a penalty deep in the visitor's 22, they opted for the scrum and although they made little progress at the set piece the scrum wheeled and they had men over as they broke off to score. Penrith continued to concede penalties as the first half drew to a close and the home side had three shots at goal two of which were successful, so at the break Bradford had a 18-12 advantage.
Penrith had much the better of the game immediately after half time, they were awarded a scrum on their own 10m line, it was not the cleanest of balls but Mike Raine was off and set Graham away outside the defending blindside winger. Raine remained with him in support and when Graham drew to fullback he fed the ball back to Raine who had a simple run in. Allinson missed a relatively straight forward conversion for a one point lead, it didn't seem to be of any consequence at the time as the visitors looked well in charge.
The second half progressed and Penrith went on to squander a series of scoring chances, the home side were clinging to their one point lead and despite having a number of penalties kicked to the corners they could not out muscle the home pack. Going into the last quarter the home side were down to 14 men as their centre was yellow carded for a shoulder charge, Penrith missed a long range penalty following the card but it was the 14 men who would score next on a rare incursion into the Penrith half. They won a line out on the Penrith 10m line, moved it slickly wide and scored a well taken try in the corner. The conversion off the touch line was well struck and went over crutially putting the home side two scores ahead.
The game was now being played in the Penrith half whereas up to this point the visitors had been in the ascendancy as Bradford looked to be tiring badly defending in their own half. They scored again after Penrith coceded a string of penalties in their 22, they now trailed by 15 points and all looked lost.
They moved the ball wide from the restart, Jay Rossi slid off his man and put Steven Cherry, fresh off the bench, away down the right and when faced with the last defender turned the ball back inside to Taylor who went in under the posts.
There were four minutes left on the clock but Penrith were unable to put together any real threat of a further score and finished the game defending their own line.
It was a frustrating day for them, they looked as if at almost any stage they could kick into gear and run away with the game, it just never quite happened. They do still realistically have a chance of a playoff place but that will require them to win all their remaining games, two of these games are away against teams in the top half of the league and that is something they have not managed all season.