ON the up side it would be good to win a grand final.

The downside is that that now seems to be York City Knights' only probable chance for gaining promotion from LHF Healthplan National League Two.

Further on the downside, success in the play-offs hardly looks a distinct possibility on current form. In fact, a place in the play-offs cannot be wholly guaranteed the way things are going, with Richard Agar's men crashing to their fourth league defeat last night with a 27-14 loss at promotion rivals Sheffield.

Many would argue the Knights' wonderful cup runs and early season form have taken too much out of them approaching the important part of the season.

The cold fact, however, is they need to rediscover that blistering form from somewhere, anywhere, to have a hope of winning a place in NL1 and justifying early season favouritism.

Looking for positives, it is better to get your poor run out of the way at this stage of the season - Keighley suffered a similar decline last year before bouncing back to get promoted - but this poor form needs to end sooner rather than later.

Agar as promised made changes last night following the Knights' three consecutive defeats.

The big news - as predicted by the Press on Thursday - was the return of Chris Smith, who has played just once since February due to a knee problem.

Jim Elston was also back in his number 14 shirt after knee trouble, while winger Austin Buchanan returned after one match out through injury - Chris Langley moving back to centre - and Agar also brought veteran Mick Ramsden into the second row, with Darren Callaghan making way.

It all looked good after three minutes as the Knights' first attack ended with a try.

Danny Brough tried a little grubber from seven yards out, the ball rebounded into his hands and he sprinted on an arc into the corner.

But then it went horribly wrong.

Buchanan gathered a kick but as he was bundled towards touch hurled the ball back into no-man's land. He was attempting to not give away a scrum close to his own line, but he instead ended up giving away a try as Alex Dickinson beat Nathan Graham to just touch down.

Brough's restart went straight out and, after the Knights were then caught offside, Gavin Brown added a two-pointer.

Knights didn't shy away from the challenge, with an attack that bristled more than in recent games, but it couldn't break through tough defence and the Eagles broke upfield for Brown to add another offside penalty.

Mistakes then began to creep in as the pressure rose, including Brough scuffing a gettable penalty, and the game began to slowly eke away.

A crucial moment came on 29 minutes as Danny Mills intercepted to race upfield and send Andy Poynter heading goalwards. Richard Wilson made a wonderful try-saving tackle but he held on to deny the hosts an easy try, his reward being a yellow card, and, although Brown missed the penalty, the Eagles were to score ten points while benefiting from the extra man.

Jordan James' break down the left was finished down the right by Andy Rice, and Brown converted before crossing himself, tumbling over the line to make it 18-4 at the interval.

With Agar claiming the game was a must-win encounter, the second 40 were arguably the most important half of the Knights' season.

They seemed geed up and were soon right back in the game. The pacy Elston instigated the comeback with a break upfield and Yusuf Sozi blasted on to Scott Rhodes' pass to cross. Brough was again wayward with the boot but the Knights had a renewed vigour.

Carl Stannard then bulldozed his way upfield, the attack was superbly carried on and Cain finished magnificently as Rhodes ran the last tackle. Brough this time goaled and there was only four points in it.

However, mistakes handed the initiative back to the hosts, who were allowed to regroup and get the crucial next try.

Brown booted a 35-metre drop goal and then, on the back of an offside penalty, Andy Poynter darted through from dummy-half.

Elston went for broke late on as he darted out of the line to intercept but he was too quick for the referee, who controversially adjudged him offside, Brown booting the penalty.

It mattered little as the hooter immediately sounded to end Sheffield's own three-game losing run and sustain York's slump.

Eagles: Poynter, De Chenu, Turnbull, Dickinson, Mills, A James, G Brown, Bruce, Collins, C Brown, Raleigh, J James, Dickinson. Subs (all used): Hurst, Doherty, Tillyer, Rice.

Tries: A Dickinson 8; Rice 31; G Brown 38; Poynter 67.

Conversions:G Brown 31, 67.

Penalties: G Brown 10, 21, 79.

Drop goals: G Brown 62.

Sin-binned: None

Sent off: None.

Knights: Graham 6, Buchanan 6, Langley 6, Cardoza 5, C Smith 6, Rhodes 7, Brough 6, Wilson 7, Jackson 6, Sozi 7, Ramsden 6, Friend 7, Ball 7. Subs (all used): Elston 6, Cain 6, Stannard 6, Forsyth 6.

Tries: Brough 3; Sozi 46; Cain 50

Conversions: Brough 50

Penalties: None.

Drop goals: None.

Sin-binned: Wilson 29

Sent off: None.

Man of the match: Richard Wilson - tireless and solid. Unfortunate that the Eagles scored heavily while he was sin-binned.

HT: 18-4

Referee:Julian King (St Helens)

Rating: No complaints.

Penalty count: 8-9

Gamebreaker: The two tries just before half-time while York were down to 12 men gave York too big a hill to climb.

Attendance: 1,018

Weather watch: sunshine, bit of a breeze

Match rating: Not a bad match for the neutral. Not necessarily a good one for York fans.

Updated: 10:30 Saturday, July 24, 2004