A blistering start and a strong finish, gave a slightly warped look to the final result of this North One West fixture at Heath Road.

The Cumbrian side – who still harbour promotion ambitions – ran in three converted tries inside the first fifteen minutes to lead 21 – nil, to effectively wrap things up for the visitors who continue to track Birkenhead Park, Kirkby Lonsdale and Kendal at the top of the table.

In between though, injury hit Widnes gave a real good account of themselves and dug in deep through the efforts of Jon Hetherington and Mike Garrity who both scored tries which reduced the arrears before two late Penrith efforts right at the very end sealed the victory.

Next week, Widnes travel to face New Brighton at Reeds Lane, kick off 2.15pm