YORK City Knights are now unlikely to reach the last eight of the Northern Rail Cup – but they again provided strong evidence their on-field progress is continuing apace.

A battling 32-22 defeat to Featherstone yesterday made it two defeats from two games, but they could hardly have been handed a tougher start to the group stage, following last week’s trip to trophy hopefuls Barrow – when arguably they should have won – with this encounter against many people’s favourites for both this competition and the Co-operative Championship.

Two home tries in the last nine minutes brought the scores closer but these did not overly flatter Dave Woods’ side, who again confronted a leading light head-on and again came away with heads held high – and hopefully with lessons learned.

One such lesson is not to fall foul of indiscipline.

Ian Bell, on his shock return to the team just two days after his release from prison, did just that, with his yellow card early in the second half proving costly as Rovers scored two ultimately crucial tries while they had a man over.

Another lesson is the intensity at which Championship rugby league is played – far greater than the Knights are used to in Championship One.

And, while Featherstone deservedly came out tops in the contest, York can take heart from the fact they were not far off their highly-regarded opponents and, therefore, could well be a match for lower-ranked sides in the division.

Furthermore, assuming they get used to this extra intensity week on week, rather than tire as the pace persists, then it is they who are more likely to improve over the course of the year.

Featherstone’s greater experience of higher-level rugby was apparent as they ground out a first-half advantage.

Despite playing against the wind and rain, they were just winning the arm wrestle and, after Bryn Powell had been denied the opener when tackled into touch close to the try-line by opposite winger Dave Sutton, they did go ahead midway through the half when Liam Finn’s grubber was touched down by substitute Iain Morrison.

They quickly extended their lead after the first mistake of the match.

Dennis Tuffour, back in the York side at full-back, lost the ball near to his own sticks, and from the field position, Matt Dale dug over from close-range to score – though defenders claimed they had prevented the touchdown.

Tuffour otherwise did pretty well defensively but found it difficult to make headway in attack, before going off late on after a bang to the knee.

The Knights fought back, aided by three quick penalties, and had a brief spell of pressure in the red zone, but Rovers’ excellent defence was hard to break down.

And in the visitors’ next attack, good skill following a kick saw Tommy Saxton finish strongly in the corner despite the attention of substitute second-row Steve Lewis, who was back in the 17, and Tuffour.

Chris Thorman’s bobbling restart was knocked-on and this time York did benefit from the field position as Jack Lee’s pass from dummy-half saw Ryan Esders barge in.

Then, on the back of a penalty, Lee darted down the short side and sent John Davies in untouched. Thorman goaled both tries.

Lee had a strong game against his former club while second-row Davies, man of the match at Barrow, again showed up well – the pace with which he runs onto the ball standing him out.

The first half thus ended well for Woods’ never-say-die side, but the second began badly.

Bell, who had entered the fray at prop on 37 minutes, though he later returned at centre, had caught the eye with two strong hit-ups, but was sin-binned on 42 minutes, when taking out dummy runner Morrison, just moments after being spoken to by referee Gareth Hewer for leading with the elbow when in possession, again on Morrison. Rovers’ substitute second-row had roughed Bell up in the tackle not much earlier.

Within a minute, a long pass created the overlap for substitute winger Zak Hardaker, the on-loan Leeds flier, to score.

Great defence prevented another try, only for a lucky counter-attack to bring a simple touchdown for Andy Bostock.

Thorman’s high kick was either patted back by Davies, or forward by a Featherstone hand, depending on whose glasses were being worn, after which Powell streaked clear, being caught just short by a combination of Jonny Presley, Lee Waterman and Tuffour. But Bostock was alone from the play-the-ball.

Lewis should have reduced the deficit but failed to gather a Thorman kick in-goal, while Davies went close again.

However, Finn increased the lead with a try and his fourth conversion after a Dale break.

York, like they did at Barrow, again hit back as Presley scooted up the wing after Waterman had got to a high Thorman kick.

And they ended the game with a bonus point as Esders picked off a Finn pass to sprint clear, Thorman’s goal on the hooter cutting the deficit to ten points.


Match facts

Knights: Tuffour 7, Sutton 7, Garside 7, Waterman 7, Wilson 7, Thorman 6, Presley 7, Massey 7, Lee 8, Jones 8, Davies 8, Esders 7, Stamp 6.

Subs (all used): Stearman 8, Barlow 6, Lewis 6, Bell 6.

Tries: Esders 33; Davies 37; Presley 71; Esders 80.

Conversions: Thorman 33, 37, 80.

Penalties: None.

Sin-binned: Bell 42.

Featherstone: Hardman, Powell, Smeaton, Worthington, Saxton, Kain, Finn, Tonks, Kaye, Dickens, Grayshon, Spears, Dale.

Subs (all used): Morrison, Dee, Bostock, Hardaker.

Tries: Morrison 18; Dale 21; Saxton 30; Hardaker 43; Bostock 51; Finn 68.

Conversions: Finn 18, 30, 51, 68.

Penalties: None.

Sin-binned: None.

Man of the match: Ben Jones – the prop stood up well to Rovers’ big forwards, tackling strongly and catching the eye with a few power-packed carries.

Referee: Gareth Hewer (Whitehaven) – did pretty well, although only the video will tell if he was right or wrong for Andy Bostock’s controversial try.

Penalty count: 10-13.

Attendance: 1,387.

Half-time: 12-16.

Weather: windy, rainy, gloomy.

Moment of the match: John Davies’ try, bursting onto Jack Lee’s pass, gave York confidence, showing they could breach Featherstone’s excellent defence with good rugby.

Gaffe of the match: Ian Bell had looked in good condition on his return to the team upon his release from prison, but he didn’t channel his energies correctly when taking out Iain Morrison to earn the costly yellow card.

Gamebreaker: The two tries while Bell was off the field took Rovers clear at 26-12.

Match rating: a decent game and one which showed York the kind of pace and intensity they must aspire to maintain and even surpass as the season goes on.