PENRITH’S support thought Christmas had arrived early as Malton & Norton gifted them four of their six tries in a 38-31 North One East defeat.

The Malt pack, as usual, held the upper hand in the set-pieces and were generally in command in open play, while the three-quarters showed that they can be a potent force if given the ball at the right time.

From the kick-off, Malton put pressure on the home side with some good ball retention and forward drives.

However, when they were penalised for holding onto the ball after a tackle, Penrith’s alert fly half spotted his winger totally unmarked out on the touchline.

A well-judged kick landed in the open space and the wing ran in un-opposed from halfway to give the hosts the lead.

Four minutes later, they struck again. A chip over the defence was chased up and produced Penrith’s second score of the afternoon to bring the score to 12-0.

Malton’s heads could have dropped but, to their credit, they fought back.

The pack had shown they had the upper hand in the set scrums and drove the Penrith pack off their own ball in the home 22 metre area to trundle to the line.

Scrum-half Paul Angus was the man to get the touch down and Mbembe Payi’s conversion renewed the hope.

Malton turned up the temperature and again pressurised the defence. When the ball was finally released to the backs, some slick handling got the ball to Payi whose pace was far greater than any other’s on the pitch. He scorched away for a trademark try which he converted himself.

Once again, Malton’s generosity handed a further try to Penrith when they failed to defend correctly at a ruck, allowing the home scrum-half to dart over the line and restore the lead. 19-14.

With ten minutes of the second period gone, Malton handed the hosts their fourth bonus point try. Once more, possession was conceded too easily and Penrith took full advantage to record the first score of the half.

It was the wake-up call that Malton needed. Having forced their way into scoring territory, they were awarded a scrum five metres from the home line.

Having driven the home eight back on three occasions only for the scrum to collapse each time, the referee awarded a penalty try.

Payi converted and Malton were within five points. The large crowd was being well entertained and that continued when the home scrum-half split the Malton defence for yet another try.

On the half hour, it was Malton’s chance to show some flair. The forwards made initial ground before releasing to the backs. Good handling got the ball into Payi who needed little invitation to race over for his side’s bonus point try.

With no let-up in the scoring and only five minutes of normal time left, Penrith took advantage of Malton’s lack of concentration.

The hosts regained possession by stealing Malton ball at a ruck and spread it wide for their sixth try. As the game entered injury time it looked as though Malton would have to settle for only one try bonus point, however, they were alert enough to realise that they could still rescue a losing bonus point. Some swift ball handling provided the extra man for Angus to go over for his side’s fifth try.

That brought the final score to 38-31 in Penrith’s favour.

Yet again, this was a game which Malton should have won.

However, they must maintain concentration for the full 80 minutes and cut out unforced errors.