Cleckheaton 15 - 23 Penrith

Cleckheaton continued their sequence of poor results with another home defeat,against a combative Penrith outfit. However, it could have been so different as a second half comeback had Penrith on the ropes and defending desperately. In the end the old failings of weak first up tackles and a lack of composure when in possession emerged once more, especially in the first half where Penrith's potent mix of youthful exuberance and experienced know how gave them the edge.Cleckheaton lack the experience in certain key positions and opponents often pick this out,whilst as a unit Cleckheaton fail to impose themselves on a game early enough and are often found playing catch up.  
The first half didn't lack endeavour but with the error count high and poor positional kicking it needed a cool head to break the deadlock. This came in the form of Penrith's stand off James Ellar who opened the scoring with a penalty in the twenty sixth minute.Five minutes later the lead was extended when experienced scrum half Paul Newton darted over on the blind side of the scrum with the Cleckheaton back row defence in disarray. The conversion was missed but Penrith had deserved their half time lead because of their better precision and overall support play.
In the forty fifth minute the game looked all but over when winger Joe Nattrass seized on another Cleckheaton mistake to dive over for his side's second try which was converted by James Ellar.
Cleckheaton finally achieved some consistent phases of possession and following two missed penalty attempts by Ross Hayden,Carl Mason drove over from a rolling maul. Hayden missed the conversion. Penrith hit back almost immediately with the best try of the game when back row Ieuan Lewis ended a passage of top class support play with another unconverted try.
For the last quarter of the match Cleckheaton increased their intensity and two tries from Lance Hamilton and Mitch Ashworth both unconverted, put them in a losing bonus point position.However,it was not to be as Penrith centre Mike Hawley dashed any hopes of the ultimate comeback with a dropped goal from twenty metres out.
Carl Mason and Ryan Piercy in the key second row unit both worked hard in the contact areas but far too often players were penalised for going off their feet or entering the ruck from the side,technical errors which have to be eliminated. Cleck are penalised disproportionately every week and despite protests not every referee is wrong.In this particular case,Penrith could have been out of sight much earlier in the match if they had made Cleck pay for their indiscretions.In the end if Ross Hayden had been on form with his kicking boots Cleck could have won the game. Another one that got away.