Lithgow Workies player-coach Greg Alderson said post-match that a couple of great moments for his side weren't enough to overcome their inconsistency - a running theme of their 2022 campaign, which is now at an end.

"That's been the year for us. We can't put 80 minutes of football together," he said.

"We've proven that we can hold our own against some of the competition leaders for a good 30 to 40 minutes but a couple of silly errors and not controlling the speed of the game means we can't build any momentum.

"They're [Panthers] a quality side. They've done well to hold it together."

Panthers marked their intentions early into the game when an excellent piece of team play in the third minute paved the way for Dave Sellers to score his first try of the day.

Aiden Ryan hit the line with speed to muscle through the Lithgow defensive line and score his first try in the seventh minute, with Josh Rivett's extra points making it 12-0.

Workies cut that margin back to 12-4 when a dummy from Isaac Thompson gave him the space he needed to dive for the try line.

The visitors couldn't capitalise after forcing the Panthers into a line drop out and the hosts instead wrestled back momentum when Desi Doolan added to his large haul of tries this season on the left wing.

A mad scramble to get on the end of a Workies grubber kick left several players tripping over themselves to get to the ball first, and in the end Thompson was there to score his second try and make it 18-10 in the 26^th minute.

Just as Workies were threatening to apply the heat on Panthers, the home side were able to bring the ball quickly up the other end and give themselves a 24-10 advantage at the break thanks to a converted Joey Bugg try.

It took Panthers just three minutes into the second half to put the game truly out of the Workies' reach when Rivett bagged himself a pair of back-to-back tries.

The first of those came when Jed Betts pierced the Lithgow defence near the half way line and found his fullback in support, then Rivett got on the end of a well directed kick towards the centre of the park from Doolan.

His conversion would make it 36-10.

Lleyton Lothian attempted to inject some energy back into the Workies squad when he got on the end of a kick to score, but Sellers would nullify that when he responded straight away with a try next to the posts.

A classic high-speed run near the try line from Alderson earned his side their fourth try of the day in the 58^th minute but it would be their last taste of points for the year.

It was then Ryan's time to shine again as his aerial ability helped him complete his hat trick.

Ryan got on the end of a chip kick to complete one of the Panthers' strongest sets of the game and on his team's next set downfield he timed his leap to perfection to catch a bomb and run out the remaining 20 metres to the Lithgow try line.

The party for Ryan suffered a setback when he was sin binned for a high shot with five minutes remaining. The tackle was placed on report.

Workies had a couple of chances to score with the one man advantage but couldn't convert.

The result means Panthers will travel to face the Dubbo Macquarie Raiders in their elimination semi-final game next weekend.

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