SUPER League has witnessed some remarkable comebacks in recent weeks and York City Knights came within a referees' whistle of matching them yesterday.

Fourteen points down with 11 minutes left, Mick Cook's men came to life with three tries in five minutes to level the scores.

They then looked set for a late drop goal to win it but, ten yards from the Featherstone posts with the kickers at the ready, Mark Cain was adjudged by referee Steve Nicholson to foul up the play-the-ball as he tried a quick heel-back.

Gone, therefore, was the chance to avenge the 21-20 defeat at Featherstone last week - which also came down to a last-minute drop goal.

And gone, too, barring a major turn-up, is the chance to progress in the Northern Rail Cup, Featherstone now odds-on to join group leaders Castleford in the knockout stages.

The comeback aside, York were far from convincing. Granted, they got themselves into good situations but too often these were wasted by individual errors, sloppiness or bad choices.

Featherstone were no better in general play but they had the excuse of being without eight or nine first-teamers and, given those circumstances, coach Gary Price was pretty content with the result.

His side had been on the back foot in the opening quarter but slowly got a grip on the game and opened the scoring when little scrum-half Jon Presley nipped inside Yusuf Sozi and gave full-back Matt Blaymire no chance with a cover tackle, Josh Weeden goaling.

The Knights soon suffered another blow as loose-forward Jon Liddell was helped off in agony, the early fears being knee ligament damage.

The silver lining was that this brought an earlier than planned introduction for fit-again Scott Rhodes and the little stand-off immediately made a difference, bringing the spark that sped up the attack which saw Jim Elston make a lightning break and provide Chris Levy with a try, Chris Ross goaling.

Both teams then did their best to help the other, treating the ball like a hand grenade without a pin, and after York winger Peter Fox erred at dummy-half, Carl Hughes, playing at loose-forward for Fev, picked up from the back of the scrum to dart over too easily against his former club, Weeden goaling for a 12-6 interval lead.

The Knights did show signs of inventiveness after the break, Rhodes at the heart of most of it, but again possession was given away and good positions lost too often.

A 40-20 then ended a bout of home pressure and Rovers winger Matty Wray showed good footwork to cross. Fev didn't really deserve to be two scores up on the balance of play, but they were. And it soon became three.

York's Darren Callaghan had a try ruled out for an apparent forward pass and Fev immediately hit back as their best attack of the day ended with Bryn Powell crossing.

The Knights disputed the score but responded in the best possible manner, Paul Thorman and Matt Blaymire setting up Neil Law to finish well.

An unlikely comeback became more possible two minutes later when Ian Kirke's drive and some Rhodes brilliance led to Callaghan finishing superbly, Ross goaling from the touchline.

Then in the very next attack, Rhodes, now bossing the show, sent up an inch-perfect bomb for Fox to out-jump his man and touch down the equaliser in the corner.

Ross' conversion attempt sailed the wrong side of the post and, at 20-20, a severe case of deja vu engulfed Huntington Stadium.

It all became even more eerily familiar as Levy, just like last week, fluffed a 30-metre drop goal effort with Fev going up the other end to set up a similar attempt for Josh Weeden, the match-winner last week.

But this time, the Aussie miss-hit his too, giving the Knights that one last chance, only for it to be snatched away by Nicholson's pheep.

Match facts:

Northern Rail Cup

Sunday, March 6, 2005

at Huntington Stadium

Knights 20, Featherstone Rovers 20

Knights: Blaymire 6, Fox 6, Callaghan 6, Law 6, Ross 7, P Thorman 5, Levy 6, Buckenham 7, Elston 6, Sullivan 6, Smith 6, Kirke 6, Liddell 6. Subs (all used): Rhodes 7, Cain 6, Ward 6, Sozi 5.

Tries: Levy 30; Law 69; Callaghan 71; Fox 74.

Conversions: Ross 30, 71.

Penalties: None.

Drop goals: None.

Sin-binned: None.

Sent off: None.

Featherstone Rovers: Moss, Powell, Maun, Newlove, Wray, Weeden, Presley, Carlton, Kay, Evans, Houston, Hayes, Hughes. Subs (all used): Ford, Fowler, Nicholson, Wilson.

Tries: Presley 19; Hughes 36; Wray 57; Powell 65.

Cons: Weeden 19, 36.

Penalties: None.

Drop goals: None.

Sin-binned: None.

Sent off: None.

Man of the match: Scott Rhodes - livened things up on his introduction following his long-awaited return from injury and was one of the key men behind the late comeback.

HT: 6-12

Referee: Steve Nicholson (Whitehaven).

Rating: Like a strict headmaster, and one that made mistakes. No major complaints about the key decision at the end, though.

Gamebreaker: The penalty awarded against York at the death ten yards from the Fev line when the Knights were in possession. This denied them the chance for a match-winning drop goal.

Attendance: 1,463

Weather watch: Cold but fresh.

Match rating: Late comeback by York lit up an otherwise average encounter littered with turnovers.

Updated: 11:10 Monday, March 07, 2005