Penrith played their final home league game on Saturday and couldn't end their sequence of defeats despite leading on three occasions and being more than a match for a Waterloo side desperate to win to avoid relegation.
Waterloo started the game at a rate of knots but it was Penrith who opened the scoring, they had taken play into the visitor's 22 when Jon Fell came off the blind side wing and tore through a gap in midfield. The chance went begging but the home side had field position and from the next phase of play Waterloo were penalised and Mike Fearon kicked the home side into the lead.
The lead was short lived, Waterloo kicked a penalty deep into home territory, won the lineout and rumbled towards the line, the home forwards stifled the drive but the ball came to the backs and Penrith were pinged for being offside and the penalty head on to the posts was kicked to level the scores.
Penrith came straight back, Fearon put an astute kick up the touchline into the 22 and the chase was good, the defence could only scramble the ball into touch and Penrith had an attacking lineout. The ball was won and when the forward drive was held up the ball was spun wide, the defence snuffed out the first phase attack but Pale Tuilagi was on hand to feed Fearon who almost made the line, the ball was cleaned out and Ed Swale, with the defence on the back foot spotted the gap and crossed close to the breakdown for a converted try.
There was nothing in it and it was the visitor's turn to score next, from a scrum on the 22 the Penrith fullback was spotted out of position, the stand off chipped the ball under the posts and the Waterloo fullback chased through for what was a soft try, the conversion levelled the scores at 10-10.
Penrith finished the first half the stronger of the two, an expansive move in the backs got Fell away on the outside, he cut in and headed for the posts but couldn't beat the last man. The ball was recycled and the Cumbrians attacked deep in the 22 but they lacked the patience and composure to break down the opposition, Waterloo cleared their lines and they turned around all square.
Penrith couldn't have made a better start to the second period, they had a lineout on the Waterloo 22, JJ Key won clean ball, it was run in by Gary Hodgson and Dan Morgan before being spun wide. Phil Armstrong was put into space by Tuilagi and got away on the outside, Fell switched off the wing to the inside. Took the inside ball and outpaced the defence for the try, Fearon added the conversion for a seven point lead.
The Winters Park faithful may have started to dream but it wasn't for long, the home side made a real hash of the restart, coughed up possession to the visitors and they took full advantage with a converted try to level the scores once more.
Waterloo then put the home side under pressure and pressed in the Penrith half, there looked to be no immediate danger when a chip was put over the first line of defence, there was plenty of cover to clear but the ball bounced as only a rugby ball can and ended up landing straight in the hands of one of the chasing attackers for a simple try and the home side now had to chase the game.
Penrith played some good rugby in patches but were dogged all afternoon by lack of precision, they knocked the ball on at least ten or a dozen times and just as they were putting the squeeze on the pressure was off. There was still little between the two sides but Penrith again were to add to their own woes.
A clearance kick was charged down and the danger was snuffed out by fullback Ben Littleton and Penrith had a 22 drop out. Fell was in acres of space on the right wing and Swale took a quick drop out, if the ball had landed in Jon Fell's hands he could have run the length of the pitch but it sliced into touch 15m from the home line. Waterloo won the lineout, rumbled for the line and their forwards eventually forced their way over by the posts and the home side were two scores adrift.
Penrith did finish the game strongly, they won two penalties just feet off the visitor's line and ran them both, their pressure got what it deserved and Hodgson finally forced his way over to put Penrith within a score but they couldn't come up with another as the clock ran down.
This was a game that was eminently winnable but when you are on such a poor run losing becomes a very difficult habit to break.