Penrith beat near city rivals Carlisle in a closely fought derby that swung first one way then the other before the decisive try was scored with seven minutes left on the clock. Penrith could thank their tenacity for their win along with the pace of winger Darren Lee and the unerring boot of Michael Fearon.
Fearon missed only one kick out of six when his standing foot clearly slipped from under him. There was some sympathy for a Carlisle side that had out scored the home side by three tries to two but had failed to slot any of their four shots at goal.
After some early Carlisle keep ball Penrith had much the better of things, James Spencer got the alarm bells ringing with a chip and chase in the visitor's 22 but Penrith were to open the scoring from an attacking lineout deep in the Carlisle 22. The ever improving Harlan Corrie took the lineout throw with some ease and the forwards rumbled for the line before releasing the ball to the backs, it was quickly transferred from Spencer to Fearon, Jamie McNaughton made the dummy run at outside centre and the ball was passed behind him to Lee who hit the line at pace off the blind side wing and had clear run to the try line and scored adjacent to the posts, Fearon added the conversion.
Fearon was soon to stretch the lead out to ten points after Corrie, Jarrett Crouch and Ged Key drove the ball up to the 22 where the visitors were penalised at the breakdown. Penrith looked to be cruising but it was then Carlisle's turn to be in the ascendancy and they had a lot of possession, played a lot of phases and were effective close to the breakdown. As soon as they tried to move the ball wide however Penrith were able to break them down but they had the home side firmly pinned in their own half.
They missed a penalty shot at goal before the forwards caught and drove from a lineout close to the Penrith line muscled their way over. A long period of possession just before half time saw the visitors again put the home side under pressure and the winger scored a well taken try in the corner. Neither conversion went over and the sides turned around at half time level pegging at 10-10.
Penrith started the second half the better of the two sides and put the Carlisle line under some extreme pressure, a number of drives for the line were thwarted and the visitors looked have cleared their lines after winning a scrum and kicking to touch. McNaughton, now at fullback, fielded the ball and ran it infield where Carlisle infringed, again at the breakdown. The penalty was right at the limit of Fearon's range but he took it on and the ball just scraped over the crossbar and his side were ahead. He had an easier chance a couple of minutes after following good driving play by Tama Toomata and captain Ryan Johnson drew another penalty at the breakdown. Fearon again made no mistake and pulled the lead out to six points.
Penrith for the second time in the game looked to have sown it up but a poor pass following the restart caused a knock on and the city side had a foothold in the home 22. They then were awarded a penalty which they kicked to the corner and the Carlisle forwards repeated their efforts in the first period and caught and drove the lineout ball over in the corner, again the conversion was missed but now there was only one point in it.
There was still 20 minutes to go and the game hung in the balance, Fearon was to miss his only kick of the game as Carlisle transgressed once more before the game was finally sealed. In attempt to claim the game Carlisle moved the ball wide on half way, under the close attention of Kris Bratton the visiting centre dropped the ball and McNaughton hacked the ball to the 22. It was now a straight foot race and one Lee was very unlikely to lose, rather than hack the ball on again he had time to gather it, just, before outpacing the chasing cover. Fearon kicked the home side two scores ahead and this time they were home and dry without any further mishaps as they saw the game out without any further scares.