Penrith cruelly lost out on their second away win of the season to a "last kick of the game" penalty, they had the narrowest of leads going into added time and despite cries off the touchline and on the pitch of "no penalties, no penalties!" a penalty was conceded and a one point advantage turned into a two point defeat.
Penrith had started well and looked the better side in the first quarter, Ben Littleton went close to scoring as he burst through the last two defenders but had the ball wrenched from his hands. They had taken the lead when Broughton Park attempted to move the ball wide, Darren Lee was awake to the threat and got a hand on the pass, the ball looped up and he was able to take it at the second attempt and sprint clear of the cover and outstrip them to run from his own half under the posts.
The home side then came back strongly and scored when some poor tackling allowed their winger to make a very poor pass into a scoring pass as he broke four tackles and showed a bit of pace. The try was in the corner and the conversion was missed into the wind but they were to score again as Penrith put themselves under increasing pressure giving away a number of penalties and allowing Park excellent field position. Their try was to come from a penalty kicked to the corner, their big forwards took the lineout throw and rumbled over.
Park went close to scoring again as the first half drew to a close as conceded penalties put the Cumbrians on their own line defending for all they were worth. They turned round trailing 10-7 to face the wind but it could have been worse.
It was to get worse as the home side scored two tries in five minutes. The first came when a poor clearance kick was poorly chased allowing play into the 22, play was spread to the left and there was players left over for a soft try, the second was a pushover try scored after a 5m scrum was conceded from a well chased kick. Both tries were converted with the wind and with half an hour to go Penrith trailed 24-7 and it looked ominous as they battled into the wind.
The home forwards were able to more than hold their own at close quarters but as the game wore on and Penrith began to spread the play in an effort to save the game they began to visibly wilt and the holes began to appear. In an effort to slow the game the home forwards were walking to lineouts but Penrith were to outsmart them as they took a quick one on half way, the ball was immediately thrown to the left wing and Lee had the room he needed. He went around the outside of his opposite number, cut back in and beat four would be tacklers before going in under the posts. The conversion went over and the momentum of the game began to swing.
The visitors opened the game up whenever the opportunity arose, Kris Bratton hit a gap and almost made the line from half way. The Park defenders were caught offside on the 22 and Mike Fearon slotted the penalty to narrow the gap and their third try came as they defended on their own line. The ball was turned over as the home forwards drove for the line, Ed Swale lifted his head and could see the counter attack was on. He ran and then threw the ball to Jamie McNaughton who ran from his own line to half way before being caught. The ball was won at the ruck and when it came to Fearon he had no hesitation in throwing it to Lee on the wing who had a forward opposite him. It was a complete mismatch as he sped round him and outstripped the cover to make the line, the conversion would have tied the scores but it went wide into the wind.
Penrith were not long in taking the lead and again Lee was instrumental, Penrith won a lineout in their own 22 and ran the ball, the ball was then chipped wide to Lee who took it on the full and ran from 22 to 22 before being hauled down, the support landed and the defence was again caught offside as Penrith piled on the pressure. Fearon's kick was good and they had the slenderest of leads.
There was still ten minutes on the clock and Penrith saw most of it out with few panics, they had another kick at goal that was narrowly missed but they got rather jittery as the game drew to its conclusion. Everyone on the pitch knew the state of play as the electronic scoreboard was registering 40+ minutes, it was the last play of the game and it just had to be seen out but the penalty was conceded, the kick good and a dramatic end to an excellent game.
The players were disconsolate after the final whistle but were told by their coaching team to keep their heads up, it was the best display of the season and they had shown no little courage and guts to come back from a 24-7 deficit to lead when a 50 point drubbing looked on the cards.