Penrith kept their slim promotion hopes alive with a five point haul at Darlington Mowden Park albeit a very close run affair. League leaders Stockport slipped up at Birkenhead Park which leaves them nine points ahead but with a game less to play. If Penrith can win the game in hand and pick up another bonus point or two they may yet travel to Stockport for the final game of the season with a mathematical chance of overhauling them.
Penrith's latest instalment was a hard fought affair where not for the first time the opposition had the vast majority of the possession and field position but couldn't overcome a spirited side that made best use of what little ball they did get their hands on. The game started with the home side having much the better of things but not being able to force home their advantage and it was Penrith against the run of play who opened the scoring after quarter of an hour. Steve Wood kicked a penalty from half way deep into the home 22 and Penrith won their lineout throw; the home pack infringed but the referee allowed the
advantage and Penrith swung the ball to the left. Gavin Cartmel playing at centre found himself with an overlap and cleverly waited for James Ellar coming up quickly from full back to make the extra man and put Joe Nattrass in at the corner.
Mowden came back strongly and within minutes had taken the lead, first with a penalty and then a try under the posts from their own half made and scored by their strong running centre who broke more tackles than he should have. At 10-5 down Penrith came straight back, a quickly taken lineout saw Ellar in acres of space in the middle of the field and he created an opening for Tom Armstrong down the right who bulldozed his way deep into the 22, the ball was recycled and came to Wood who danced out of a couple of tackles to score by the posts. Penrith almost extended their lead when their forwards were held up over the line driving over for the try. They did score from the ensuing 5m scrum. Mike Raine broke from No8 and although brought to ground captain, Rob Dawson, having broken quickly, was on hand to snap up the ball and drive over himself.
Again the home side bounced back and this time a clean line break by their second row forward made the try when ne got in behind the defensive line and drew the last man to put the centre in for a second try.
Penrith restarted the game on the stroke of half time and stole the ball from the ruck following the kick off; with the defence unprepared Paul Newton broke round the fringe, found Ryan Johnson, Wood and Cartmel were involved before Mike Hawley made the final break for a telling try.
At half time Penrith were 24-17 up and their hosts must have been wondering what on earth had gone on, they had all the ball and field position and had been outscored by four tries to two. If Penrith thought they had lived on scraps in the first half their diet was going to be much reduced in the second period. They were to spend almost the whole 40 minutes in their own half, the visits into the home half were fleeting and could be counted on the fingers of one hand. They spent the majority in their own 22 defending desperately with their backs to the wall, there were a number of lineouts and scrums on the 5m line. Mowden ran a couple of quick tap penalties close to the line but as close as they got they couldn't quite break the last line of defence.
It is a testament to the organisation and determination of that rearguard, that with the amount of defending they had to do they were not breached and neither did they give away a string of penalties, concede a penalty try or even a yellow card.
They did concede three kickable penalties, the first brought the scores within four points, the second came back off the post but with ten minutes of proper time left the third went over to cut the arrears to only a single point. Those last ten minutes turned into eighteen because of previous stoppages but Penrith held on bravely to claim the four point win and four try bonus point. It was a victory for team spirit, as everyone had played their part and dug in when the going got
tough. With three league games left all is to play for, starting with the trip to Rochdale this Saturday.