Penrith staged the second biggest comeback in the club's history to defeat Cronulla 32-28 at Toyota Park and keep alive its slim NRL semi-final hopes.

Panthers centre Lee Hookey scored the match-winner just two minutes from fulltime after the visitors trailed by 20 points with 26 minutes to go.

The game seem all but over when the Sharks scored five unanswered tries, but the Panthers scored 24 unanswered points to keep their slim finals hopes alive at the expense of their opponents.

Panther flyer Rhys Wesser was instrumental in the comeback, scoring two second half tries and becoming the equal highest try-scorer for the club along with Greg Alexander and Ryan Girdler in the process.

And then with the game on the line, Hookey won the race to a Preston Campbell grubber, stunning a the crowd of 7,827.

Promising Panthers winger Michael Gordon crossed for first points 11 minutes in after livewires Preston Campbell and Wesser created an overlap out wide.

Fellow flanker Luke Rooney got into the act with a try of his own midway through the half, the beneficiary of some clever lead-up work from Trent Waterhouse and Lee Hookey.

The visitors seemed in total command, but the match turned when the Sharks ran in two tries in the space of three minutes to steal a 10-8 halftime lead.

Second rower Reece Williams scored the first after steaming onto an inside ball from five-eighth Adam Dykes in the 29th minute.

And then lock Paul Gallen capitalised on an error from Wesser, who was unable to clean up a Dykes grubber.

Sharks fullback Darren Albert crossed for two soft tries shortly after the resumption, and then Gallen seemingly sealed the result with a replica of his first try in the 54th minute.

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