Knights 18, Rovers 16

The Knights were not at their scintillating best but dug new depths of resilience and a piece of brilliance 12 minutes from time saw them overcome Featherstone 18-16 at Huntington Stadium.

Rovers had gone into the Arriva Trains Cup group game as favourites, given their Division One status, and, despite yesterday's result, will probably do so again next week when round two sees the Knights travel to Post Office Road for the big Challenge Cup tie.

They will no doubt be out to make amends and in addition appease coach Gary Price, who dragged his players onto the bus immediately after the match such was his ire at losing the battle of the young bosses.

Opposite number Agar had rested forwards Darren Callaghan, Dan Briggs and Damian Ball with one eye on next week's clash. But he still just about got his tactics right.

Of course, had Rovers won, whatever praise given the Knights would be tempered, but the fact remains Agar's men found that bit of extra inspiration to triumph in a pressure game which could have gone either way.

That inspiration came courtesy of Aussie centre Aaron Wood, who set up Alex Godfrey for a breathtaking equalising try, while Danny Brough did the rest with a wonderful winning touchline conversion.

Each of the game's six tries were pretty special - they needed to be as the sides otherwise cancelled each other out in a nip-and-tuck conflict - but this last one just about took the biscuit.

The ball was transferred left where Wood seemed to be crowded out going for the corner, but he somehow released a left-handed miracle pass back inside to Godfrey, who took it superbly to make the line under pressure.

The try was good enough to win any game and did so thanks to Brough's laser-like left boot.

Had the boot been on the other foot then Rovers might still have won as they missed two conversions in addition to a penalty for offside in the second minute.

Carl Briggs lacked the accuracy on that occasion and his sorry start continued when he was sin-binned on five minutes for a professional foul off the ball as the Knights chased a bomb.

Rovers nevertheless went ahead while down to 12 men as props Ian Tonks and Stuart Dickens - Agar had warned about Rovers' front row - combined for the latter to cross.

However, Richard Blakeway, in Briggs' absence, hit the post with the conversion, and on Briggs' return, the Knights hit back. Brough ran the last tackle and his perfectly-timed pass saw Scott Rhodes on the burst to touch down under pressure.

Brough goaled but the lead lasted only three minutes as a rare mistake by Lee Jackson - inexplicably knocking-on when taking a tap near half-way - led to a second try for Dickens. The mistake aside, the try was the culmination of some great handling - though Briggs could not add the extras it deserved.

York immediately struck back as Wood bravely caught the short restart to set up an attack which ended with a Yusuf Sozi try.

Sozi, along with fellow props Ryan Benjefield and substitute Craig Forsyth, rose to the challenge all game, not least when scoring his try, swatting half the Rovers team away and carrying the other half over with him.

The opening quarter had suggested a try-fest was imminent but defences regrouped and the only other points of the half came from a harsh penalty against Rhodes for holding down - and even then Briggs needed the aid of the woodwork.

Rovers retook the lead straight after half-time as left-winger Matty Wray benefited from good hands to cross in the corner and, ironically, Briggs converted the hardest of his goal attempts.

They had appeared to knock-on in the build-up, but while they benefited from referee Ashley Klein's decision that time, they later rued another controversial call as Klein disallowed a Richard Newlove try, deeming he had been held up.

Klein may well have been correct on both counts, but he got stick from both sets of fans so perhaps the less said about his performance the better.

He was spot-on with some decisions but others were hard to understand, and that could have added to the frustration on the pitch that culminated in a fight which saw Benjefield sin-binned along with Rovers duo Tonks and Richard Chapman.

Two Featherstone players were also put on the report in the match - Steve Dooler in the first half after the touch judge spotted something, and Chapman in the second following a head-high tackle on Mark Stewart.

Winger Stewart had been targeted for pressure all game but generally coped well, while fellow Aussie Simon Friend was the epitome of guts and determination.

However, it was the other Aussie, Wood, who ultimately won the game along with try-scorer Godfrey and goal-kicker Brough.

So, round one goes to York. Now for round two.

Match facts:

Arriva Trains Cup (group game)

Sunday, March 7, 2004

at Huntington Stadium

Knights: Graham 8, Stewart 7, Lang-ley 8, Wood 8, Godfrey 8, Rhodes 7, Brough 7, Benje-field 8, Jackson 7, Sozi 8, Ramsden 7, Andrews 6, Friend 8. Subs, all used: Elston 8, Cain 7, J Smith 7, Forsyth 8.

Tries: Rhodes 15; Sozi 20; Godfrey 68.

Conversions: Brough 15, 20, 68.

Penalties: None.

Drop goals: None.

Sin-binned: Benje-field 49 (fighting).

Sent off: None.

Featherstone: Batty, Ford, Coventry, Newlove, Wray, Presley, C Briggs, Tonks, Darley, Dickens, Dooler, Blakeway, Hayes. Subs, all used: Archbold, Chapman, Patrickson, Carlton.

Tries: Dickens 10, 18; Wray 42.

Conversions: Briggs 42.

Penalties: Briggs 34.

Drop goals: None.

Sin-binned: Briggs 5 (professional foul off the ball), Tonks 49 (fighting), Chapman 49 (fighting).

Sent off: None.

Man of the match:

Simon Friend - relentlessly drove forward and worked like the proverbial Trojan.

HT: 12-10

Ref: Ashley Klein (London).

Rating: Deserves credit for the occasional good decision, though for much of the time you had to play guess the rule.

Penalty Count: 8-6

Game-breaker: The brilliance by Wood to send Godfrey in for the winning try.

Attendance: 1,942

Weather watch: bright sun, occa-sional dark cloud, and brief drizzle.

Match rating: more of the same next week please.

Updated: 10:29 Monday, March 08, 2004