Penrith's flickering NRL finals hopes remain alive after a confidence-boosting yet unconvincing 16-8 win over title contenders Manly at Pepper Stadium on Saturday night.
With their season nearing do-or-die stakes, the Panthers recorded a victory over a top eight opponent for the first time in 2017.
It leaves them needing to win five of their last eight and keeps them in touching distance of the top eight.
They remain in ninth spot and two wins outside the eight - following Parramatta's victory over a depleted Melbourne - but the door has been left slightly ajar.
It appeared they had one nail in their coffin following last week's smashing at the hands of South Sydney but bounced back.
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"We had a lot of confidence going into last week, we've been really good for four or five weeks," Panthers coach Anthony Griffin said.
"That (the loss to South Sydney) is gone now, we were really disappointed. We knew if we got to the mentality that we've been building and did what we wanted defensively, that'd give us a chance to be a quality side.
"It was as simple as that - it's not what you say, it's what you do."
The Panthers arguably had the rub of the green, after receving 14 penalties to Manly's four.
However that shouldn't take any of the shine away from the performance of their forward pack, in particular James Tamou (one try, 141m), Trent Merrin (174m, 23 tackles) and Regan Campbell-Gillard (114m from 11 carries).
"We've been on the end of them (big penalty count losses) sometimes too," Griffin said.
"I'm just really pleased with the way we responded defensively after last week, that was the most pleasing thing."
