Penrith Rugby Club's away form this season has been brittle and it was their undoing once more at Bradford and Bingley.

The 32-24 defeat means the title dream is fading fast but they do still realistically have a chance of a play-off place.

That will require them to win all their remaining games.

Two of these games are away against teams in the top half of the league and that is something they have not managed all season.

They had lost away the week before to a good Alnwick side who played very well on the day, but that was not the case at Bradford.

Penrith started as they so often do in these away games and conceded within the first five minutes.

They looked to be working their way into the game going through the phases when they lost control of the ball at the breakdown and it bounced up invitingly for an oncoming home player who was clean away from a back line expecting the ball and he scored in the corner.

The visitors were soon back on terms after they kicked a penalty to the corner.

Ian McDowell’s throwing in to the line-out was accurate, and once it was apparent the pack were not going to shunt the home forwards over the line, the ball was moved infield.

Ed Swale and Matt Allinson made ground and a ruck formed under the posts where Ryan Johnson took a short ball off George Graham and burst through the first defensive line before shrugging the final defender off to score. Allinson converted.

The Cumbrians moved further ahead after a bout of aerial ping pong, of which Graham took the last one.

The chase was poor and he picked his way through the runners and then made some headway before releasing Brad Taylor who again made yards.

The ball was then spun down the line where Allinson found himself in space. He went for the gap and had the pace to make the line but hit the post with the conversion.

Penrith looked at this stage to have the game under control but kept the home side in the game by giving the ball away too easily and conceding cheap penalties.

Bradford levelled the scores when they won a penalty deep in the visitor’s 22.

They opted for a scrum which wheeled and they had men over as they broke off to score.

Penrith continued to concede penalties as the first half drew to a close and the home side had three shots at goal, two of which were successful.

Trailing 18-12, Penrith had much the better of the game immediately after the interval.

They were awarded a scrum on their own 10-metre line.

It was not the cleanest of balls but Mike Raine was off and set Graham away outside the defending blindside winger. Raine remained with him in support and, when Graham drew the full-back, he fed the ball back to Raine who had a simple run in.

Penrith went on to squander a series of scoring chances as the home side clung to their one-point lead and, despite having a number of penalties kicked to the corners, they could not out-muscle the home pack.

Going into the last quarter, the home side had their centre yellow carded for a shoulder charge.

It was the 14 men who would score next on a rare incursion into the Penrith half.

They won a line-out on the Penrith 10m line, moved it slickly wide and scored a well-taken try in the corner which was converted.

Penrith then conceded a string of penalties in their 22 and trailed by 15 points so all looked lost.

They moved the ball wide from the restart and Jay Rossi slid off his man to put Steven Cherry, fresh off the bench, away down the right.

When faced with the last defender, he turned the ball back inside to Taylor who went in under the posts.

There were four minutes left on the clock but Penrith were unable to put together any real threat of a further score and finished the game defending their own line.