In front of a crowd in excess of a hundred people, on a foggy damp day, this top of the table clash was settled in the thirteenth minute in a game of few chances and where much of the play was in the middle third of the pitch following the solitary goal.
From the kick of United forced a corner while they were indebted to Joe Barley for clearing of his own goal line in the second minute from a Josh Fox effort that had beaten debutant Woodley keeper George Boughton when one on one with the keeper.
United responded with Jake Nicholls feeding the ball to Josh Drew only for it to overrun to the home team’s goal keeper Josh Cockerill.
A foul by Greg Beckett just inside the Woodley half resulted in a free kick being crossed into the Woodley visitors penalty area where Chris Hurst headed home for Penn’s goal.
With the momentum from the goal the visitors struggled to put pressure on the hosts penalty area and it was not until the twenty first minute that Danny Horscroft found Josh Drew whose low cross was cleared by Jack Harding in desperate fashion for a corner.
Goal scoring opportunities for the remainder of the half were at a premium with Boughton pushing a short away for a corner following a second phase of play from a Penn free kick the best for the hosts while Charlie Oakley saw a pass to him in the final minute of the half evade him and go to Fox.
The introduction of Suhki Kang at half time and Horscroft moving into midfield saw United start the opening fifteen minutes of the second half with good tempo and purpose that resulted in Josh Drew firing straight at Cockerill and minute later seeing his effort hit the base of the post while Cockerill also denied Horscroft.
The first Penn attack of the half came on sixty two minutes which ended in Boughton saving a shot and four minutes later Fred Tripp forced Boughton to push the ball away for a corner following a full length diving save.
With the next goal being important in deciding them match, both sides were wary of conceding chances to the extent that Penn only had one further worthwhile effort which resulted in Casey Bocarro putting an effort over the cross bar following a cross to him from the left flank.
United was also finding it frustrating breaking down the home team defence with Drew forcing one further save from Cockerill while Charlie Oakley had claims for a penalty turned down in the last minute when he fell under pressure from a defender.
Although a disappointing result, United remain in second position and well placed to push for honours in the second half of the season.
Boughton, Greenwood, Horscroft, Nicholls, I Kamara, Barley, Drew, A Kamara (Kang), Oakley, Morgan (Wilson), Beckett (Prestidge) Subs not used: Thomas and Briggs