IT has been a happy Easter for Darren Callaghan where the Evening Press/Collier Plant Hire player of the year rankings are concerned.

The 27-year-old utility star (pictured) picked up both man of the match awards over the Bank Holiday weekend, starting at Featherstone on Friday when the Knights completed a wonderful hat-trick against Rovers in their last Arriva Trains Cup group game, and against Chorley when the Knights began the league season with a hard-fought win.

There has been some disagreement with Callaghan's award against Featherstone given that he was not averse to winding up his opponents but the aggressive display by the second-row cum centre showed York would meet their hosts head on in a game which was not for shrinking violets.

He helped York rattle Featherstone and get on top of them, yet at the same time played some good rugby including a try, an assist and a lot of hard work.

Still, the clear winner in the fans' vote was two-try hero Mark Stewart, who was superb in his new position of loose-forward and gave coach Richard Agar much food for thought.

Stewart therefore picks up the bonus player of the year point, to go with two points for being deemed the second-best player by the Evening Press. Big hitting second-row John Smith collected the remainder.

Callaghan also came out on top against Chorley - picking up the sponsors' man of the match accolade too - and the total of six player-of-the-year points upped him to joint-third in the standings.

Loose-forward Damian Ball collected two points that day for his non-stop work, while Yusuf Sozi picked up the remainder for his rampaging efforts in driving the ball in. Surprisingly, it was Sozi's first player-of-the-year point.

The fans' vote was close, with several players getting nominations. Scrum-half Danny Brough just pipped it.

Fans' votes can be sent in by email to peter.martini@ycp.co.uk or by postcard to Peter Martini c/o Sportsdesk, Evening Press, 76-86 Walmgate. York, YO1 9YN, leaving name, address and daytime contact number.

These votes count towards the new Player of the Month Award, and voters get the chance to win a pair of VIP tickets to a home game.

Standings: Jackson 10pts, Friend 10, Brough 9, Cal-laghan 9, Rhodes 8, Graham 7, Elston 7, Ball 7, God-frey 5, Forsyth 5, Langley 3, Stewart 3, Briggs 2, Cain 2, J Smith 2, Wood 1, Hayes 1, Andrews 1, Sozi 1.

Updated: 11:35 Saturday, April 17, 2004