THE draw for the semi-finals of the Arriva Trains Cup was shrouded in farce last night.

Rugby Football League chiefs had to stage a redraw after the initial draw, which saw York City Knights handed a home tie against last year's finalists Leigh Centurions, was deemed invalid.

It is thought that Leigh and Hull Kingston Rovers had been allocated the wrong numbers - in other words their names were read out when they should not have been as they did not correspond to the numbers drawn - making the draw erroneous.

A second attempt was made immediately and this saw the Knights handed an away game at Hull KR, while Whitehaven host Leigh in the other tie, both games to be played on Sunday, June 27.

A spokesman for the RFL admitted there had been confusion around the initial draw but stressed independent observers - it was staged at BBC Radio Cumbria - had backed the validity of a redraw.

The Knights would have been happier with a home tie, but coach Richard Agar saw the funny side. "Maybe the balls weren't warm enough," he joked.

"There was a bit of a cock-up it would seem. I'm not going to make a furore of it - I find it quite funny.

"A home draw would have been great. We've had no luck in most of the cup draws this season and when we finally get a home tie, it's redrawn.

"But we will take what we're given. There's no way you can expect an easy game at this stage of the competition. You're not going to get an easy draw and this is not.

"But we will go there and we will do our best. We don't feel there's any pressure on us, we will go and play some football and let our hair down.

"We will have to play well, there's no doubt about that, and we will be underdogs again, but their results have been up and down."

Agar reiterated that the league remained the priority - to win promotion to play the likes of Leigh, Hull KR and Whitehaven on a weekly basis - and that they were not yet dreaming of a final. He said: "This is a nice sideline for our supporters and the players but our priority is still National League Two."

Nevertheless, he added: "For the club to make the quarter-finals of the Challenge Cup and the semi-finals of the Arriva Trains Cup, it's a tremendous achievement."

Knights chief executive Steve Ferres said: "We can't do anything about the draw - we've said in the past you get what you're given - but we will be demanding a full explanation as to how this happened. It's only fair to the sponsors and supporters to know what happened and why the error was made."

He added: "We've got an important league match against Dewsbury coming up next Sunday and at the moment that's the most important thing for us."

Updated: 10:27 Monday, June 07, 2004