IT'S a nice view from up here.

After losing to Hunslet on the second weekend of the LHF Healthplan National League campaign, York City Knights have not looked back and are now looking down on the rest of Division Two.

Ever since that April 18 reverse, the Knights have embarked on a winning sequence which yesterday reached eight games with a 50-6 demolition of London Skolars.

That victory, combined with Barrow's win at Sheffield, saw the Knights go top on points-difference one game before the midway point of the league campaign.

The view gets even nicer in September as the sun sets on the season but, regarding the present, there is perhaps no better way to enter a run of four consecutive away games - including next Sunday's eagerly-awaited Arriva Trains Cup semi-final at Hull KR - than with the comfort of having all their promotion rivals propping them up.

Of course, all other teams will now want to knock the Knights off their lofty perch, but the title favourites tag has meant Agar and his army have had to contend with a similar scenario all season. And they have so far swatted away the pressure like Yusuf Sozi swats away wannabe tacklers.

Talking of the formidable front-rower, it was he who set the Knights on their way to top spot yesterday.

Danny Brough booted a 40-20 in the first set and, with the Knights pressing, Sozi sprinted on the angle to crash over from Lee Jackson's pass, Brough goaling the first of seven conversions.

The Skolars responded well with a few decent sets culminating in an equaliser, scrum-half Peter Hannan benefiting from a ricochet off Richard Wilson to regather his own grubber and score.

The try, converted by Kurt Pitman, signalled a minor melee after which Lee Jackson was sin-binned for throwing a punch, with the incident also being put on report.

However, the Skolars were allowed to make nothing of the man advantage and instead the Knights were soon back in front.

Darren Callaghan, in at hooker in Jackson's absence, was held up going from dummy-half, but the pressure continued and the ball was moved right where Chris Langley slipped a great ball out the back door for Austin Buchanan to cross.

The match remained a ding-dong affair for a time, but the Knights were enjoying the bulk of possession, with countless foolish penalties harming the Skolars' cause, and, although the visitors' enthusiasm was impressing, there was an air of inevitability surrounding the hosts' next score - if a sensational 50-metre move can be deemed inevitable.

Wood cut inside two men near half-way, and the ball then went from Brough to Nathan Graham to Mark Cain, who sliced through.

York stayed on top for the remainder of the half and some more brilliance by Cain, skipping past his man and slipping a impudent ball to Graham, saw the full-back just reach the line.

Cain's impact off the bench in the second row was a major factor in York moving from a precarious 10-6 to a more comfortable 22-6 half-time lead.

The other major factor was the Londoners' lack of discipline, which, rather than wind up the Knights and spoil the game - as was perhaps the aim - simply kept piggy-backing the hosts upfield and giving them ample possession. As if the Knights needed any help.

Both factors combined to up York's lead early in the second half.

Skolars' loose-forward Mark Cantoni was sin-binned for punching in the tackle and, within seconds, Cain stole the ball in a one-on-one tackle, which set the field position for Sozi to launch himself in full flight on to a Jackson pass and crash over once again.

Then Cain himself shot on to a Rhodes pass to notch his second try, another score on the back of a penalty.

Skolars' prop Alex Smits soon saw yellow for his part in a dangerous tackle on Cain, while hooker Pitman was at one stage substituted to perhaps prevent another card.

York, not rising to the several digs, instead countered by throwing in one or two showboats and the next try came on the hour via a trademark Rhodes dart through a tiring defence, on the back of a wonderful offload by Richard Wilson. It was a fitting birthday present for the stand-off, who turns 24 today.

Skolars were still down to 12 men when Chris Langley and Buchanan stretched the defence down the right before the ball went left where Aaron Wood was not going to be stopped.

Cain, a hat-trick man the last time these two sides met, was denied another treble by a forward pass, before Buchanan - already a crowd favourite in a short space of time at York - wrapped things up with his fifth try in two games, coming inside to take the scoring pass as Brough ran the last tackle.

Match facts:

LHF Healthplan

National League Two

Sunday, June 20, 2004

at Huntington Stadium

Knights: Graham 7, Buchanan 8, Langley 8, Wood 8, Walker 7, Rhodes 8, Brough 8, Wilson 7, Jackson 8, Sozi 8, Callaghan 7, Friend 8, Ball 7. Subs (all used): Wainhouse 7, Cain 9, Briggs 6, Forsyth 8.

Tries: Sozi 2, 46; Buchanan 15, 75; Cain 34, 51; Graham 37; Rhodes 60; Wood 63.

Conversions: Brough 2, 34, 37, 46, 51, 60, 75.

Penalties: None.

Drop goals: None.

Sin-binned: Jackson 10.

Sent off: None.

Man of the match: Mark Cain - made a massive impact off the bench, not only in scoring two tries and setting up two more but also with his all-round game.

Skolars: Osborn, Aggrey, S Singleton, Green, Gardner, Coleman, Hannan, Jonker, Pitman, Smits, McFadyean, R Singleton, Cantoni. Subs (all used): G Osborn, Parillion, McFarland, Hendry.

Tries: Hannan 10.

Conversions: Pitman 10.

Penalties: None.

Drop goals: None.

Sin-binned: Cantoni 44; Smits 57

Sent off: None.

HT: 22-6

Referee: Jamie Leahy (Dewsbury)

Rating: Indisciplined Skolars kept him busy, and really he could have dished the visitors more cards than he did.

Penalty count: 17-6

Gamebreaker: The two tries in the six minutes before half-time eked open the floodgates.

Attendance: 1,367.

Weather watch: intermittent sun but quite fresh with a first-half shower.

Match rating: Penalties spoiled the flow but York did a good job, with a little bit of showboating increasing the entertainment.

Updated: 10:50 Monday, June 21, 2004