FULLTIME SCORE: Saints 28  - Penrith 20
Match Conditions: Night match, mild, dry.
Attendance: 8,800
POST MATCH SUMMARY:

In the minutes that followed. Penrith received 2 dubious penalties and in the 20 minute kicked a penalty goal.
Score: Saints 6 - Penrith 2

In the 25th minute, Saints scored the best try of the match. From 30 metres out, Jason Hooper sent the ball from dummy half to Thompson. A series of short passes up the middle of a tight centre field followed with Barrett running at the line and drawing 'em in. Luke Patten backed up taking the left inside pass which got him to within 10 metres before passing left to Terry Lamey who passed the shortest pass of all to Hooper who finished by scoring untouched next to the uprights! Thompson converted.
Score: Saints 12 - Penrith 2

In the 30th minute tragedy struck with Lance Thompson suffering a terrible injury as his knee was twisted in a tackle. This looks like a season injury.

Lance left the field on a motorised stretcher and the team lifted a gear, defending well. However, in the 34th minute, Girdler scores for the Panthers as Barrett attempts an intercept and misses.
Score: Saints 12 - Penrith 8

The phantom siren is heard once again seconds before half time but play continues until the real half time.

The 2nd half started well enough with Luke Branighan keenly chasing a Barrett mid field bomb. Branighan's determination saw Penrith lose the ball and if only one other Saints player was as keen, we would have had the ball and Penrith would have become target practice as they were clearly shot to bits. As it turned out, a Penrith player in an off-side position had no choice but to fall on the ball and Saints got the penalty. With 43 minutes gone, Bartrim kicked the goal from 22 metres out.
Score: Saints 14 - Penrith 8

Penrith responded in the 46th minute with Adamson crashing through some feeble defence. The conversion is successful and the scores are equal.
Score: Saints 14 - Penrith 14

What followed was all too familiar 'nap time' when the Dragons forget the basics and lose the plot. Taking a nap is something which the Dragons have been guilty of on numerous occasions in 2000. The Panthers lifted and Saints just went through the motions. Things got frustrating for us but it was clear that it was also frustrating a few players on-field. There was a bright moment when Nathan Blacklock made a fine run and was awarded a penalty as Penrith tried to slow him down in the play-the-ball but there was little to cheer about over what happened in the 10-15 minutes which followed.

Matters became even more frustrating when the League's worst head-hunter, Penrith's Steve Carter got away with yet another rising stiff arm. Penrith were also holding down players consistently and getting away with it. This all got too much for Barto who walked off the mark, trying to milk a penalty while stamping all over a Penrith player who had set up residence in the play-the-ball area. Barto got penalised whilst in possession and a good attacking opportunity evaporated. In all fairness, Barto had copped a number of cheap shots but his ill will continued and Saints' game plan went off the rails. Penrith, on the back of ample possession, scored a fairly soft converted try in the 55th minute to give them the lead.
Score: Saints 14 - Penrith 20

When the try was scored, Barto stupidly shoved the Penrith try scorer. He eyed up the 3 or 4 players who came running at him to 'set things right' but the dust up was avoided. By itself, the shove was a nothing incident but it was stupid because the ref sent Barto to the 'hell have no fury as a ref scorn' bin for 10 minutes. I have no problem with Barto needing to cool it but  we were all surprised to see him being damned to the sin bin. 

The sin binning saga saw Saints re-group over the next 10 minutes as they rallied and slowly got back into the match. It was up to a Barrett - Blacklock combination to get us out of our seats when Barrett chipped ahead on his own 30 metre line around the 60 minute mark. Tingha chased the kick and also gave it the boot, re-gathered in juggling fashion and got into full flight. This was great stuff from Blacklock who has been venturing in-field around this this time in most matches. The defence recovered and the play broke down but just the same, it was good to see Tingha backing himself. A few times in this match and this year, Blacklock has been very cautious with the ball in hand out wide and is reluctant to skirt down the wing for fear of being forced into touch. Better safe than sorry I suppose but I reckon that he has more speed than almost any other player in the League & I'd love to see him get around his opposite winger more often.

But back to the game...thanks to Barrett and Blacklock, the Dragons are back on the attack and Timmins almost scores. Penrith are all off side and this robs us of chance of scoring. We get the penalty but no Penrith player is sin binned. Saints go for the quick tap instead of having a shot at goal. This is the right decision but Saints lose the ball when Barrett passes to a Penrith player. Despite this, Saints are looking hot and Penrith are looking ragged.

Throughout this 10 minute period, Barrett was sensational as he motivated the forwards and put the Penrith on the back foot. By the time Bartrim re-joined the team, the Dragons' forwards were dominating the Penrith pack, Ainscough & Timmins were stretching their opposites to the limit and Nathan Brown was finding space from dummy half. 

With only 15 minutes to go, it was the brilliance of Barrett which saw Saints go up to yet another level. On the Panthers' 40 metre line, Barrett dummies and gets over the advantage line curling back a pass. The pass went to Jason Hooper who was held back. Saints got the penalty and Penrith were living on borrowed time. The ref took one step to where the infringement took place and that constituted a mark. Barrett took  a quick tap about 30 metres out and in centre field. He surged forward and found Brownie in support who shows a good turn of speed to score under the posts. The conversion was successful and in the 66th minute the score board was all locked up. This was the turning point of the match.
Score: Saints 20 - Penrith 20

Even though Penrith kept pressing the Saints' defence it was clear that the match in the bag. Saints get a penalty in the 71st minute after Penrith were offside for almost a whole set of tackles; Barto kicks the penalty goal and Saints are back in front.
Score: Saints 22 - Penrith 20

With the Panthers falling off the tackles in the 76th minute, Nathan Brown puts in a classic grubber for Trent Barrett who scores a well deserved try. The conversion, right on fulltime is successful.
Score: Saints 28 - Penrith 20

This was a good win considering the efforts of Craig Smith and Shaun Timmins who were backing up after last night's Test match. Andrew Farrar said after the match that some players were battling to get off the bench so that makes it an even better win. Luke Bailey and Terry Lamey backed a heroic Craig Smith well in the forwards and Bartrim, despite his lack of discipline, played a pivotal role in the win with some gutsy defence and hit up work as well as kicking 5 goals.
However, without a doubt the man of the moment was Trent Barrett who went into the match with an uncompromising attitude in what was probably his best game of the year!

Post script: Sean Hampstead has been dropped to first division for round 13 for an 'overall poor performance'