Hoodoo denial

Richard Agar's men upset the odds at Huntington Stadium last Sunday with their 18-16 Arriva Trains Cup triumph, but their lengthy injury list means the chances of a repeat result at Lionheart Stadium in tomorrow's Challenge Cup tie have decreased - and the burden of history is also against them.

Last week's win was the first time York had defeated Featherstone since a 25-12 victory in the old Division One on October 13, 1985.

But you have to go back almost 50 years - 47 years minus three days to be exact - for the last time York beat Rovers at Post Office Road.

Nevertheless, Knights coach Richard Agar - who actually scored a try for Rovers in their 36-22 victory when the two sides last met at Lionheart Stadium in the ATC last season - has little time for hoodoo-talk and indeed last week's win has gone some way to shelling the 'bogey team' tag.

"These are a bunch of players that won't be concerned by history," he said of his team. "We're a side capable of breaking the mould.

"Whether we do it this week I don't know but the burden of history won't weigh these players down. They probably won't even know about it unless they read the paper."

Rovers also have something of a Challenge Cup hold over York, having won six of the eight ties between the sides down the years - and you have to go back nearly 70 years for York's only triumphs, which came in successive seasons in 1935-6 (13-8 away) and 1936-37 (18-4 at home).

They also beat Rovers 5-4 at home in a 1951 Cup clash, but at that time the ties were two-legged and this narrow second-leg victory just failed to overturn a 9-5 deficit in the first.

The last time the sides met in the Cup was 1987-88 when Featherstone won 32-21, while the first Cup meeting was in 1928-29 when Fev won 10-0.

Rovers' other wins were in 1950-51 (9-5 home), 1958-59 (18-7 away), 1964-65 (24-7 home) and 1967-68 (12-0 home).

All those previous encounters were first-round ties apart from those in 1958-59 and 1967-68, which were both in the second round.

THE Powergen Challenge Cup quarter-final draw will be staged at 5.20pm

on BBC Television's Sunday Grandstand this weekend.

Let's hope York still has an interest in it by then.

AM I the only one who thought Featherstone coach Gary Price was a bit off in dragging his players away from Huntington Stadium straight after their defeat last week?

Granted, he may have been disappointed or frustrated, angry even, at his side's loss. But dragging his team off implied there was real chagrin that his Division One outfit should lose to York.

But there should be no ignominy for any National League side in losing to this Knights team.

They may have been underdogs given their Division Two status, but the bulk of the players on show had played at a higher level, and for Price to suggest Rovers should be spitting feathers at losing to them perhaps shows the Knights a certain lack of respect.

Of course, it may galvanise his players and increase their determination tomorrow, but it may also backfire as he gave his team little credit for their part in what was a fine game.

Furthermore, they are only part-timers just like York and to deny them the usual after-match grub was a bit tough.

Of course, this is only my opinion, for what little it's worth - but God knows what he'll do if the Knights win again tomorrow.

GOAL-KICKING prince Danny Brough (left) is already right up there in the National League's goals charts.

The 21-year-old Knights scrum-half has notched 35 in the six Arriva Trains Cup and Powergen Challenge Cup games so far this season, putting him behind only Batley's kicking king, Barry Eaton, who has notched 41 while extending his scoring run to 41 matches since making his Bulldogs debut last season.

Carl Briggs missed two kickable goals in Featherstone's defeat at York on Sunday but is still up there in third on 33.

National League goals charts: Barry Eaton (Batley) 41; Danny Brough (York) 35; Carl Briggs (Featherstone) 33; Neil Turley (Leigh) 32; Jamie Bloem (Halifax) 26; Graham Holroyd (Doncaster) 26; Darren Holt (Barrow) 25.

DEPARTED Knight Damien Reid scored two tries on his debut for Barrow last week in a 12-try romp over his former club, Gateshead. The centre came off the bench to notch his brace in a 68-18 hammering.

Funnily enough (as the regular reader of this column will know) his name was spelt wrong for most of last year while he was at Gateshead and again when he first joined York - and, lo and behold, this week's match reports had him back to being a 'Reed' once again.

THREE lucky readers each scooped a pair of tickets for tomorrow's Challenge Cup tie at Featherstone after winning the competition run in the Evening Press in conjunction with sponsors Powergen.

We asked you which player won the 2003 Lance Todd Trophy, and the answer was Leeds star Gary Connolly, who, distraught at actually losing the final 22-20 to Bradford, famously failed to acknowledge the congratulations of the platform party and trooped back to his team-mates.

The winners of our competition were: Roy Acaster, of Stamford Bridge; Daniel Temple, of Burton Stone Lane, York; and John Dobson, of Burnholme, York.

Updated: 10:38 Saturday, March 13, 2004