Match report: York City Knights 18, Batley Bulldogs 10

The Bulldogs went into the game second in the Co-operative Championship and huge favourites to extend their winning run.

But Dave Woods’ men, buoyed by Sunday’s dramatic victory at Dewsbury, ironically decided by Thorman’s boot, were superb and utterly deserved the three points that further bolstered their battle to climb away from relegation.

Indeed, the way the fans cheered them on throughout and yelled with delight at the end was richly deserved, celebrating the kind of 80-minute performance that Woods had been calling for.

It was brilliance by Anthony Thackeray that put the Knights ahead early on as his show-and-go was followed by a scoring pass to Ryan Esders. Tom Bush goaled.

A fair bit of pressure had been on Thackeray given half-back partner and organiser-in-chief Thorman is out, possibly for the season, with the broken thumb suffered at Dewsbury.

But he continued to pose a threat to opposing defences.

As predicted by The Press, Jonny Presley was Thorman’s natural replacement and he too looked neat and at times dangerous.

The pair also played a full part in a wonderful defensive display by the side to limited free-scoring Batley to two tries, one of which was only a late consolation.

Elsewhere, neither Ben Jones nor James Haynes passed fit so Woods was forced into two more changes, with Brett Waller coming in as substitute prop and Dennis Tuffour starting on the wing.

With Presley starting, Woods also had to find a replacement hooker for when Jack Lee was ‘spelled’ and, in a surprise, loose-forward Rhys Clarke was given that role, with back-rowers Steve Lewis and the ever-impressive teenager Ed Smith – and none of the reserve pivots – coming onto the bench.

Batley boss Karl Harrison tweaked his high-flying line-up, noticeably bringing full-back Ian Preece back from injury and using Mark Toohey at loose-forward in place of the in-form Ash Lindsay. One-time Knights prop Dave Tootill was also on the bench.

Harrison was never going to change his in-form half-backs, though, and one of them, Paul Mennell, brought about the Bulldogs’ reply, timing his pass perfectly to send Alex Bretherton in.

The other, Paul Handforth, missed the goal but nearly set up a second try with an early kick. Home full-back Bush, covering expertly, beat the pacy Alex Brown to the ball.

Bush was probably the stand-out player in an excellent first half-hour – there were no more tries but it was entertaining stuff – in which Brown, at one end, and Matt Garside, at the other, were both gang tackled out of play at the whitewash.

York’s best chance, though, after their first penalty, on 33 minutes, was wasted when Waller could not take Lee’s surprise pass close to the sticks.

They had another opportunity when Dave Sutton broke out of defence wonderfully but he ignored the supporting James Ford and was tackled on half-way by last-man Preece.

At the other end, former Knight Wayne Reittie thought he had scored from dummy-half but referee George Stokes, hitherto not endearing himself to the home support, deemed Lee and Waller had held him up.

Winger Reittie was also denied right on half-time by Tuffour, who, having spotted the danger early, covered across field from his opposite wing as a deep early kick found open spaces in York’s half.

Reittie was sure he had scored early in the second half but his try was ruled out by a touch judge for a forward pass by Jason Walton, who had seemingly done superbly to send Handforth through.

Presley was taken out off the ball close in when he chased his own little grubber. From the penalty, it seemed Thackeray would score but a Walton tackle stopped him short.

A similarly good tackle by Waller stopped ex-Knights prop Sean Hesketh at the other end.

It was another prop who increased York’s lead, Lee’s superbly disguised pass seeing Nathan Freer – back on for Waller – barge in. Bush goaled.

It was a rare try for Freer, and the least he deserved from a quite superb performance up front – sidestepping men, running through them, passing when necessary and tackling anything nearby.

Batley were getting outplayed and began to lose their composure.

And when another fine attack ended with Duane Straugheir bursting in from Thackeray’s pass, Bush goaling, York’s victory was complete, despite a late reply from George Flanaghan, goaled by Handforth.

Match facts

Knights: Bush 9, Sutton 7, Ford 7, Esders 7, Tuffour 7, Thackeray 7, Presley 7, Freer 10, Lee 8, Benson 8, Straugheir 8, Garside 8, Clarke 8.

Subs (all used): Smith 8, Lewis 6, Waller 6, Aldous 7.

Tries: Esders 4; Freer 55; 70.

Conversions: Bush 4, 55, 70.

Penalties: None.

Drop goals: None.

Sin-binned:None.

Sent off: None.

Batley: Preece, Reittie, Walton, Maun, Brown, Handforth, Mennell, Smith, Lythe, Hesketh, Manning, Bretherton, Toohey.

Subs (all used): Buttery, Flanaghan, Tootill, Robinson.

Tries: Bretherton 13; Flanaghan 77.

Conversions: Handforth 77.

Penalties: None.

Drop goals: None.

Sin-binned: None.

Sent off: None.

Man of the match: Nathan Freer – on any other day Tom Bush would have walked it for dealing with everything thrown at him and more, but prop Freer was simply immense.

Referee: George Stokes (St Helens) – ridiculous decision in first half to award Batley a penalty after they had played the ball incorrectly, which got home fans riled, was not the only thing he got wrong.

Penalty count: 5-8.

Attendance: 1,098.

Half-time: 6-4.

Weather: fine evening.

Moment of the match: Nathan Freer’s try gave York breathing space at a crucial time and was utterly deserved.

Gaffe of the match: it’s a shame to mention any errors but Brett Waller would have scored had he taken a pass by Jack Lee close to the try-line.

Gamebreaker: Duane Straugheir’s try ten minutes from time put York three scores ahead when they were well on top.

Match rating: it was low- scoring but was great entertainment in a fine atmosphere, despite a low attendance.