Penrith have moved into the NRL top eight after crawling to a nervous 28-14 win over the Wests Tigers at Pepper Stadium.
The match was in the balance until Panthers winger Dallin Watene-Zelezniak dived in at the corner to score and edge his side to a six-point lead in the 74th minute.
Playing in his first match against his dad, Tigers coach Ivan Cleary, Panthers halfback Nathan Cleary then nailed the sideline conversion to kick his team out to beyond a converted try.
Five-eighth Tyrone May sealed his team’s fifth straight victory with a try in the final minutes, lifting the Panthers past fading St George Illawarra into eighth spot on the ladder with four games to go in the regular season.
With a 19-5 advantage in plays inside the opposition 20-metre zone in the second half, a highly-strung Panthers had trouble putting the Tigers away in front of the healthy 15,170 home crowd.
But the weight of possession told on the tiring Tigers, and the blow came when Panthers forward Corey Harawira-Naera broke into the backfield to set up Watene-Zelezniak.
For the gallant Tigers, the loss means they remain in a battle with Newcastle to avoid the wooden spoon after the Knights scored back-to-back wins over the past fortnight.
The Panthers were leading by two after the break when Dylan Edwards powered over from close range, however the Tigers went 90m in two plays to hit back through Luke Brooks.
In a closely-fought first half, Penrith were denied twice early by the bunker for players obstructing play by standing in the defensive line.
But there was no doubting Tyrone Peachey’s opening try when he picked up an errant pass from Matt McIlwrick to race the 20 metres to the tryline.
The Tigers responded through Tuimoala Lolohea’s long ball to David Nofoaluma for a try, before the Panthers kicked out again courtesy of a well-executed right-side shift for Dallin Watene-Zelezniak.
But the visitors made it two tries apiece on the halftime siren after centre Esan Marsters drew three defenders and squeezed a pass for Nofoaluma’s second try.
