A strong opening half saw the Saints leading by three goals, but Panthers showed why it has won so many premierships by coming back hard after the break.

When Brandon Horner scored his third goal of the match for Panthers with eight minutes left, St Pat’s was under intense pressure to retain its 5-4 lead.

Horner came close to forcing a draw, but his effort from a penalty corner with five minutes left was parried into the crossbar by Pat’s goalkeeper Taylor Newton then deflected away from goal.

The hard-fought win meant the Saints retained its status as the only undefeated side in the competition and increased its lead at the top of the ladder.

“It was probably the quickest game so far this year that we’ve played, that first 20 minutes was intense,” Saints coach Shane Conroy said.

“Like I said before, it was just about taking our chances. We have been working on that, so it was good to see it come to fruition.

“We always knew they’d come back, they are a quality team and very experienced. We wanted the first result after half-time and unfortunately they got it and put us under pressure.

“A few silly mistakes, rushing in and getting cards – we put ourselves under a bit of pressure, but we still got the points.”

It was Panthers, who went into the match four competition points behind Pat’s, who opened scoring on Saturday as a Horner penalty corner drag flick found the mark after three minutes.

Greg Nelson came close to doubling the lead soon after before Panthers goalkeeper Logan Hunter made a one-on-one block to stop Charlie Schofield from equalising.

However, Hunter was unable to block a rocket from Jaden Ekert at the top of the circle in the ninth minute, that effort making it 1-all.

Brent Naylor gave Pat’s the lead in the 20^th minute and it was his good lead up work which led to Ekert’s second as the score ticked over to 3-1.

Five minutes out from the break the Saints had another as Blake Davis finished a slick attacking play, but Panthers was not about to concede defeat.

When the visitors drew their third penalty corner of the match four minutes after play resumed, Trent Macdonald pulled one back.

Horner added another – again from a penalty corner – to make it 4-3 with 28 minutes still to play.

The tension showed as three yellow cards were produced, while Justin Mellor, who had been dangerous in the opening half for Pat’s, was finally rewarded for his efforts.

He scored to make it 5-3 with 15 left before Horner gave Panthers a sniff. But the Saints held on for win number seven this season.