Penrith have upset Manly 16-8 to keep their flickering NRL finals hopes alive at Pepper Stadium on Saturday night.

The Sea Eagles were a victim of their own ill discipline, with Trent Barrett’s side losing the penalty count 12-4 as they suffered their first road loss of the year.

The Panthers must now win five of their last eight to be any hope of making the top eight after bouncing back from their flogging at the hands of South Sydney last week.

The game was tinged with controversy, with questioning of Dallin Watene-Zelezniak’s 37th minute four-pointer in which he pulled the ball from the grasp of teammate Waqa Blake and appeared to lose possession.

But the dubious calls went both ways, with Watene-Zelezniak also denied a try midway through the second half when Corey Harawira-Naera was ruled to have knocked it on into Matthew Wright.

Daly Cherry-Evans, who was this week overlooked for Queensland’s State of Origin side, was again a shining light for his team.

His try assist for Dylan Walker in the 11th minute took his season tally to 21 – the equal most in the league alongside Gold Coast’s Ash Taylor.

After going into the break down 12-4, it didn’t take long for Manly to strike back in the second stanza with back-rower Shaun Lane producing a flick pass for Tom Trbojevic to reduce the margin to four.

However two Nathan Cleary penalty goals saw the Panthers grind out an important win.

The result snapped Manly’s five-game winning streak, however they will remain in the top four.

On several occasions Cherry-Evans pleaded with the referees for leniency after being on the end of an 8-2 penalty count in the first 40 minutes.

The Sea Eagles will also be sweating on the release of the match review committee findings after Frank Winterstein appeared to shoulder charge Cleary as the Panthers No.7 booted the ball down field.