Panthers hold off sorry Knights

Penrith pair Brad Tighe and Luke Walsh came back to haunt former club Newcastle as
the Panthers returned to winning ways with a 28-10 win at CUA Stadium on Saturday.
Winger Tighe scored two tries and halfback Walsh tormented the Knights with his
incisive short kicking game as Penrith bounced back from last Sunday's defeat by
South Sydney.
Gavin Cooper, Michael Jennings and Lachlan Coote also went over the home side as
they chalked up their eighth win of the season to rejoin St George Illawarra at the
top of the table.
The Knights welcomed back NSW winger James McManus, Jarrod Mullen, Isaac De Gois and
Adam MacDougall from injury, and started skipper Kurt Gidley at halfback in a strong
looking line-up.
However, the opening exchanges proved forgettable for the Scots-born McManus, who
was playing his first game in almost a year.
A huge hit in the 11th minute from Luke Lewis and Lachlan Coote dislodged the ball
from his grasp, and from the resulting set, Walsh threaded the ball into the in-goal
area past McManus and Cooper pounced.
The Panthers' pacy backline was causing the Knights defence no end of problems and
the lead was doubled seven minutes later when Tighe touched down unopposed in the
left corner.
Matters got even worse for Rick Stone's side, when Walsh, who left the Knights as
the fourth-choice halfback in the early part of last season, torched his former side
again with another fine kick, that deceived the advancing defensive line and Michael
Jennings raced through to score.
The rampant Panthers continued to dominate but were denied by the video referee when
Adrian Purtell looked to have scored, only to be denied by the hand of McManus.
Halftime could not come quick enough for the Knights and after the interval, they
looked a better side and opened their account when Akulia Uate scored another
brilliant try, when he acrobatically kept Gidley's hopeful kick in touch, and leapt
over the try line.
That try led to the Knights' best spell of the game as the Panthers failed to
recapture their first half form with Uate punching holes in the home side's defence
with great regularity.
McManus atoned for his earlier error with a 62nd-minute try after the Knights
completed a strong set, but it proved to be a false dawn, as errors began to
punctuate their attack as the Panthers regained control.
Tighe and Coote made things more comfortable for the home crowd of 10.969, with two
tries in the last 10 minutes, but it could be a nervous weekend for Luke Lewis, who
may face action for a lifting tackle on Matt Hilder.
Panthers five-eighth Travis Burns also tore a hamstring and is likely to be out for
up to a month.



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