Panthers steal late derby honours

v BYE

Penrith have pulled off a remarkable final minute play to down local rivals Parramatta 20-18 this afternoon at Pirtek Stadium in front of 15,600 fans.

An audacious last-ditch bid from Jamie Soward to produce a hail-Mary play for the Panthers paid off when teammate Waqa Blake leapt to claim the ball before offloading to Bryce Cartwright who swung and belted his way over the whitewash, taking Penrith from 16-18 losers to 20-18 victors on a perfect afternoon for footy in Sydney's west.

It wasn't all excitement in the first half - both sides spluttered to start the game with several no-try calls from the NRL Bunker and it wasn't until the 23rd minute when Junior Paulo claimed first tryscorer honours (for the second week in a row) and put Parramatta ahead. Michael Gordon converted for 6-0 and it seemed the Eels had a little bit of momentum.

They failed to capitalise on that however - Penrith scored through eventual match-winner Cartwright in the 35th minute and with Jamie Soward's conversion all was level again going into the sheds for halftime.

After the break is when the contest finally opened up. Panthers' halfback-cum-hooker Peter Wallace darted over shortly after the break to stun the mostly pro-Eels crowd, before the Eels again drew close with a controversial try to Gordon, where the Bunker took several minutes to decide whether the ball-carrying Mansour had the ball stripped from his grasp by the Eels, who gathered the loose pill and got it straight to a runaway Gordon. Our underground overlords adjudged the action ok and Parramatta trailed by two, with Gordon unaable to convert his own four-pointer, however it mattered little a few minutes later, when Trent Merrin's failure to be square at marker saw Gordon add two points through a penalty goal - scores levelled at 12-all.

From there Parramatta seemed to lift a gear and Penrith were all at sea - just minutes later Clint Gutherson made a break, kicked in-field and a horrid boounce caught Penrith's backline out, delivering Isaac De Gois an easy four-pointer which Gordon summarily converted to get the hosts six points clear.

As if the Bunker hadn't provided enough controversy for one Sunday, the men upstairs had a word in the ear of the on-field referees with minutes left as Penrith set a scrum assuming an Eels feed, with replays showing Parramatta had in-fact knocked on and reversing the decision on-field to a Penrith feed. The ensuing play saw Josh Mansour cross in the corner off some sublime hands - but Jamie Soward's conversion missed, leaving the Panthers two short going into the final few minutes.

Cartwright's last minute heroics ensured the Panthers would not go into next week's home clash against premiers North Queensland at Pepper Stadium with a 1-4 record, while the Eels will have to dust themselves off before hosting the Raiders this coming Saturday at Pirtek.