Penrith came a cropper in the Skilltrainingltd Northern League First Division when they crashed 6-0 at Sunderland Nissan.

It left the Cumbrians sixth bottom, 18 points their conquerors who are third, although Penrith do have three games in hand.

Penrith travelled probably thinking it was the right time to catch their hosts as they had lost three in a row – but it didn’t work-out like that.

Andy Thompson was the hero for Sunderland Nissan as he grabbed a hat-trick after Penrith had failed to prosper from a promising start.

A close-range finish from Thompson edged Sunderland Nissan ahead on 28 minutes and just before the break Anthony Chapman doubled the lead.

Penrith tried to re-group but were in trouble again when they conceded a penalty and Thompson smashed home his second.

Midway through the second half Chapman scored his second before Thompson completed his hat-trick.

The agony was complete for Penrith in the last minute when Lee Owens notched the sixth home goal.

Before the game joint manager Richard Prokas had proclaimed his faith in the squad and insisted they still had a genuine chance of a top six finish.

“The stop-start nature of the programme at the moment through the bad weather isn’t helping. It’s not doing anybody any good. We need a good run of games to get the rhythm going again because so far it’s been stop-start,” he said.

The mounting backlog of fixtures means that Penrith face a hectic second-half of the season.

Secretary Walter Brogden said: “I wouldn’t say I’m worried about the fixture pile-up but I’m concerned.

“We have still got 25 League games left to play and eight of them are to re-arranged so we are going to be playing twice a week. That has an effect on the team if you get injuries and suspensions.”

There’s no game planned for the coming mid-week so the next task for the Blues will be Saturday’s must-win home clash against the bottom side Bishop Auckland who have only won two of their 18 games so far.

Whitehaven Amateurs didn’t play yesterday in Division Two where they have slipped to fifth in the table.

They are at home on Saturday against Guisborough who are in mid-table and had a good 5-1 home win over Birtley Town yesterday.

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