The mistakes and missed tackles were plentiful and the standard was often low, but there wasn’t much that didn’t happen during the clash.

Panthers played some of the best attacking football they’ve produced in years to gallop out to a 28-0 lead after 26 minutes, and followed it with some of their worst.

Blayney showed plenty of character to peg them back with four unanswered tries, but poor goal-kicking proved costly.

The flashpoint arrived with 16 minutes to play when Bears captain-coach Terawhiti Cooper was given 10 minutes in the sin- bin for back-chat just as team-mate Kurt Beahan was returning from his own stint following a minor scuffle.

Cooper is almost certain to find himself in hot water after threatening members of the crowd during a bizarre abuse and expletive-laden rant, and he refused to return to the field even after his sin-bin stint was complete.

It left a sour taste after he had earlier been his team’s best in a big-hearted performance, and when Jake Betts crossed for Panthers’ sixth try moments later to ice the game, Blayney’s valiant rearguard effort was finished.

They imploded to concede six tries in the final quarter of an hour.

“It can be hard sometimes to have a big lead like the one we had and then to motivate yourself to come out and stay at that level and that was probably something that hurt us for a while today,” Panthers coach John Fearnley said.

“Blayney were always going to come back at us pretty hard and, to their credit, they played some good football there in the second half.

“Our first 20 of the match was probably some of the best footy we’ve played all season, but there were periods where we went to sleep.

“We’re paying the price for dropping the game to Pat’s last week, but the CYMS result in losing to Cowra gives us an opening, and while it would be nice for other results to help us, we have to just keep doing what we’re doing.”

Neither side seemed intent on completing too many sets early in the match, but Panthers’ attack looked ominous almost immediately and it showed when a second-man play from Matt Rose set up Cody Robbins for the first try of the game.

Not long after, Trent Rose sent William ‘Bubba’ Kennedy on his way for a long run and, two plays later, Matt Rose was in for his team’s second.

Alarm bells were ringing for Blayney when Osea Sadrau bulldozed his way through four defenders from the re-start, paving the way for another Kennedy break which ended in a Chris Shephard four-pointer.

Cooper was denied a momentum-halting try in the 20th minute for a forward pass, and moments later Robbins was away again, out-doing ex-CYMS team-mate Beahan in an 80-metre foot race.

In the next set, Trent Rose, Kennedy and Shephard were at it again, creating a big break. Matt Rose showed great vision two plays later when he chipped, having noticed there was no fullback at home, re-gathered and scored.

A cricket score was on the cards at 28-0, but Blayney finally got something to go their way leading into half-time when a great flat pass from half Jesse Nixon sent Leigh Monaghan on his way.

Panthers struggled to focus on the task at hand in the second half and the Bears took full advantage, scoring three tries in quick time.

Nixon crossed after a smart dummy-half run, and centre Michael Nixon was in soon after from a chip-and-chase. 

When Jesse Nixon set Monaghan up for his second, it was game on.

Unfortunately, the Cooper sin-binning and subsequent events put an end to it, but the net result was that Panthers remain alive in 2014.

“Our attack looked very good when we were holding onto the ball and completing sets,” Fearnley said.

“Trent Rose was very good again, ‘Oscar’ [Sadrau] had probably his best game for us, and Matt Rose was at his best again.

“We’ve got Lithgow next week. They’ve been playing well lately too, so we need to get up for that match. There’s a lot to play for.”

BATHURST PANTHERS 60 (Cody Robbins 3, Mitch Davis 2, Matt Rose 2, Chris Shephard, William Kennedy, Blake Lawson, Jake Betts tries; Blake Lawson 8 goals) defeated BLAYNEY BEARS 16 (Leigh Monaghan 2, Michael Nixon, Jesse Nixon tries)