STOCKPORT 26 PENRITH 24

Penrith started their game at Stockport knowing they needed two points to guarantee their Level 6 status whatever happened in the games around them, they did exactly what they had to do winning two bonus points but no more. Celebrations were somewhat muted though, going into added time they led by five points but then conceded a try under the posts which denied them the win and took the edge off their afternoon's efforts.
Penrith were up for the challenge from the start and had a good spell of possession in the opening minutes but then put themselves under pressure turning the ball over and conceding penalties and having to do a lot of defending in their own 22. They found themselves behind within ten minutes as the home side first set up a rolling maul from a lineout 20m out and when it was halted moved the ball right, then back left to find they had a simple overlap and an easy try.
Seven points down Penrith came straight back, Ed Swale chased a ball into the home 22 and under pressure it was bundled into touch giving the visitors an attacking lineout. This was the start of a period of pressure where Penrith were in the ascendancy, they went close to scoring following strong running from James Hogg and Adam Howe, they plumped for a 5m scrum when awarded a penalty in the red zone. Mike Raine got over the line from No8 but was adjudged to have run into one of his teammates so play was pulled back.
Penrith eventually leveled the scores when Raine won a lineout close to the line, they had a number of drives for the line, it was Josh Dowson who powered to almost the line and then Howe who finally barged over for the try. Penrith then had themselves to blame for a spell in their own 22 as they failed to take the restart cleanly. They defended well and then got back on the offensive after Raine broke blind and got away from a scrum in his own 22. He set winger Jon Fell away and then took a return pass to make make it to the home 22, James Boustead then made ground up the middle and the move ended with Dowson being held up over the line.
The visitors then turned the screw and won a series of penalties on the home line, Stockport were lucky to have only one man yellow carded as they continued to infringe. Penrith finally got the score their play deserved when Raine won another lineout close to the line, the pack got the push on their opponents and drove over the line with Tom Lindsay at the back of the maul to ground the ball for the try.
The first half dragged on as there had been a number of injuries and Penrith couldn't hold out, in the eighth added minute Stockport leveled the scores in similar fashion to their first score, a driven lineout, a couple of phases and an overlap.
Early in the second period Penrith got themselves into an attacking position when Swale hacked a misplaced home pass into the home 22 and they then won the lineout from the clearance to touch. It wasn't pretty as they drove in time after time but it was effective and it was Matt Allinson who cleanly broke the defensive line 20m out and made the line. Wooff's conversion gave them a seven point lead but they couldn't build on it.
They had a crazy five minutes when they conceded a yellow card, gave three penalties away one after the other and even back chatted to the referee for another 10m to go from attacking deep in the home 22 to defending their own line. The home lineout drives were reasonably efficient and they again leveled the scores from a penalty kick to the corner and the attacking lineout.
Penrith did come back hard at them and physically upped their game, they again got their noses in front, this time from a 5m scrum which the seven forwards remaining on the field won. Raine broke from No8 and two drives later Allinson crashed over wide out, crucially the conversion went wide. Penrith did have a long range penalty attempt to take the lead out to more than a score but it drifted wide and the clock was winding down into added time.
The home side were on the attack and Penrith seemed to be holding them on the 22 line with no great problems when the scrum half threw a ridiculous dummy which was bought and he strolled over under the posts to level the scores once more and the conversion won the game.
It was mission accomplished for the Cumbrians but not quite how they would have liked it but they have survived, just. A look at the league table shows they can put their survival down to their ability to score four tries in a game which they did to earn a bonus point in 18 of the 26 games played. If there were no bonus points Penrith would have been relegated