Jersey Flegg: Dragons comeback falls short despite Andrews’ 4

An opening set penalty gifted Penrith an early chance on the attack and they took full advantage with Jirah Liddiard diving off in the right-hand corner off a nicely run shift play to make it 4-0.

Liddiard found his second soon after reeling in an intercept and taking off to score untouched before converting his own try to make it a double-digit game.

A tenacious Viliami Amone wrestled the ball off Sialetili Faeamani one-on-one as he carted the ball off his own line to earn the Dragons their first opportunity in the red zone.

The side’s two debutants combined off it to get the visitors on the board with Fitzgibbon sweeping around and squeaking an offload out to Andrews who contended with a pair of Penrith cover defenders to dive over in the right-hand corner.

Kade Reed’s conversion ricocheted off the left upright and over to cut the deficit back to four for the Red V.

Lyric Craft-Te Moananui had to leave the field for the Dragons for a HIA – which he went on to pass – after copping one across the nose bringing Cooper Hale into the contest for just the third appearance of his Jersey Flegg career.

Boosted by another penalty, the Panthers pushed further ahead with Delahia Wigmore charging over behind the ruck to make it 16-6.

Penrith were dealt some fortune a little over a half-hour in with their attempt to find touch off another yardage penalty batted back in by Andrew only for Nick Murphy to win the race to the football off it, toe it forward, and ground it next to the sticks.

Hale made a desperate try-saver on Faeamani inches out from the line the next set to prevent the hosts from surging further ahead.

They were able to improve their lead prior to the intermission however with Siotame Hansen running a nice line down the left-hand corridor to charge over and make it 28-6.

Liddiard notched his third early in the second half after Murphy went aerial to swallow an attacking Penrith kick and hand it off to his supporting winger.

A hard-running Wigmore crafted a flick pass to Murphy not long after to extend their lead out to 40-6.

The Dragons were able to find their second 53 minutes in with Craft-Te Moananui surging through to pounce on a spilt Reed bomb and fashioning a brilliant flick to Andrews for his second.

The visitors were able to go back-to-back moments later with Corey Ackers, fresh on the field, muscling his way through several defenders to crash over and cut the deficit back to 40-16.

The Red V’s resurgence continued shortly after with Andrews steaming through to take in a perfectly placed Reed bomb and dive over to secure a hat-trick on debut.

The Panthers stopped the bleeding their next set however with Hansen slicing through to nab his second of the afternoon.

Andrews refused to yield with the teenage winger stepping his way to the line down the short side off another nice Craft-Te Moananui delivery for his fourth try of the match.

The clash’s wild second stanza persisted with the Dragons, on just their third play of the next set, finding more points as Eden Hodges slipped into the backfield and moved the ball onto Amone who found a supporting Hale to race away and cut the deficit back to 44-30.

Hale’s four-pointer proved the final say of the match however as Penrith held on for a valuable pair of competition points as they continue their charge towards the postseason.