Canterbury-bound playmaker Matt Burton sparked Penrith to a gritty 20-14 triumph over Sydney Roosters at Suncorp Stadium to keep the Panthers minor premiership hopes alive.
Burton scored two tries, made three line-breaks, seven tackle breaks and ran a game high 211 metres with the ball as Penrith bounced back from last weekend’s 37-10 loss to Melbourne.
The win ensured Penrith retain second place on for-and-against ahead of South Sydney after the Rabbitohs 40-12 thumping of Parramatta on Friday night and opens up an eight-point buffer between the top three teams and the fourth-placed Eels and Roosters.
Burton gave the Panthers an early 6-0 lead when he stepped around Roosters No.1 James Tedesco to grab his first try in the 10th minute after receiving a long pass from star second-rower Viliame Kikau and racing 80 metres to score.
Roosters lock Victor Radley helped to level the scores at 6-all soon after when he crashed over from close to the Penrith line and Adam Keighran converted.
However, it was as close as the Roosters would come to leading in the match as ill-discipline with the ball and by individual players cost them dearly.
A penalty against rookie Roosters halfback Sam Walker for escorting Kikau off the ball in the chase for a Jarome Luai kick enabled Burton to put the Panthers ahead 8-6 in the 25th minute.
NSW Origin second-rower Angus Crichton was placed on report for a crusher tackle and referee Gerard Sutton sent Kiwi prop Jared Waerea-Hargreaves to the sin-bin in the 32nd minute after three consecutive ruck infringements by the Roosters.
Penrith centre Paul Momirovski made the Roosters pay for their sins when he scored just three tackles after the sin-binning of Waerea-Hargreaves and another penalty goal by Burton extended their lead to 14-6 at half-time.
In the 48th minute Burton produced another moment of individual brilliance to step four defenders from a scrum win 10 metres from the Roosters line and Penrith appeared certain to claim the two competition points.
However, Joey Manu got the Roosters back into the game when he dived over in the corner after Walker and Tedesco combined to create space from a scrum win in the 58th minute and a big shot by Radley led to another try by winger Daniel Tupou.
Story first published on NRL.com