YORK City Knights picked the right day to put on their best attacking display of the season.

A National League Two record crowd of 1,835 was enticed to Huntington Stadium yesterday to see the Knights take on leaders Keighley, and on the basis of this performance many are likely to come back as they were kept thrilled by an eight-try super-show of wonderful, sometimes breathtaking, rugby.

What's more, the team did it when the chips were down.

Their well-documented new injury problems meant they were forced to hand debuts to three players in a reshuffled side, while Keighley, who had only lost once in the league, started as if they meant business with dangerman Jason Ramshaw pulling the strings.

Then with a quarter of the game gone and the Cougars leading 10-2, Knights talisman Paul Broadbent was stretchered off with a severe knee injury.

York had had few attacking opportunities until then and as the half-hour passed they started to lose cheap ball, allowing Keighley to get on top.

But rather than let heads go down, the Knights puffed out their chests and said, 'right then'. The remaining 48 minutes saw them score 46 points.

Scott Rhodes led the rout with a display which, alone, was worth the entrance fee.

He took on the defensive line with blistering pace, purpose and perfect passing, setting up several tries and scoring a corker of his own.

A fifth-minute Danny Brough penalty for a high-tackle on Trevor Krause had been negated by two Keighley tries from James Rushforth and Adam Mitchell by the time Rhodes helped to set up York's first try.

His pass was superbly taken by Mark Cain - playing for the first time at centre - and he fed Alex Godfrey to finish in the corner.

Three minutes later, Rhodes made a great break from a scrum and fed Neil Law to blast over.

On the stroke of half-time, Godfrey chased a Cain kick in a planned move from a scrum, benefited from a lucky bounce and was tackled before collecting the ball. Brough booted the penalty.

The second half began as the first had ended. A solid set finished with Brough - the little scrum-half who can open a can of beans with his left foot - sending through an inch-perfect grubber for Lee Jackson to latch on to.

Brough kicked his second of five conversions, added a penalty after Rhodes had been caught high, and then sent up a mighty up and under that was timed to perfection by Cain sprinting down the right. He caught it on the move and shipped out a pass knowing Godfrey would get on the end of it to fly over.

The crowd were loving it, but the best was yet to come, as the Knights then scored one of the tries of the season.

Rhodes scythed through on a 35-yard break from his own half and when it looked like he had finally been cornered he sent out a long pass to Law, who was steaming up on the outside like a runaway train.

And when a runaway train is going at that pace, three defenders aren't going to stop it. It was Law's ninth try in eight games.

The quick-fire fun was still not over as Rhodes took on the defence again and this time sent debutant Kevin Spink away.

The substitute's first touch minutes earlier had been to tidy up a short restart. His second touch saw him burst through, dummy the full-back and score.

Keighley had seen 34 points put past them in 24 stunning minutes before getting back on the scoresheet themselves when they took advantage of a rare penalty for offside from a drop-out. Andy Robinson crashed over and Paul Ashton converted.

But then Rhodes seized centre-stage again. He took the ball from a scrum near half-way, left his man trailing and sprinted for the line, touching down with a showboating somersault.

The stand-off blotted his copybook on 71 minutes when he dropped a pass near the Cougars line - an error which cost him the Knights' first-ever ten out of ten mark - made all the worse as Matty Foster benefited from quick ball to run the length of the field, Ashton converting.

Debutant full-back Jonny Woodcock was beaten that time but his moment was to come.

On 76 minutes he made a try-saving tackle on Robinson and a minute later he picked up a loose ball near his own line, darted through broken play and sprinted 80 yards with cheers in his ears.

David Foster scythed over in the dying moments to boost the Cougars' respectability but it hardly mattered. The Knights had already totalled their highest-ever score.

Proof, if ever it were needed, that in rugby league the best form of defence is attack, attack, attack.

Match Facts

Knights:

Woodcock 8, Godfrey 8, Cain 9, Law 9, Kama 8, Rhodes 9, Brough 8, Hayes 8, Jackson 8, Forsyth 8, Rams-den 8, Callaghan 8, Krause 8. Subs (all used): Molloy 7, Riddell 8, Spink 8, Broadbent 6.

Tries: Godfrey 32, 48; Law 35, 53; Jackson 43; Spink 56; Rhodes 65; Woodcock 77.

Conversions: Brough 32, 43, 48, 65, 77.

Penalties: Brough 5, 40, 45.

Keighley:

Rushforth, Hewitt, Wainwright, M Foster, Robinson, Mitchell, Firth, Hannah, Hoyle, Sinfield, Wilkes, D Foster, Ramshaw. Subs (all used): Ashton, Patterson, Merville, Ekis.

Tries: Rushforth 7; Mitchell 13; Robinson 62; M Foster 71; D Foster 80.

Conversions: Mitchell 7; Ashton 62, 71, 80.

Penalties: None.

Man of the match

Scott Rhodes - probably the finest display by a York player this season. Tore Keighley apart.

Referee: Steve Presley (Castleford)

Penalty count: 5-4

HT: 14-10

Attendance: 1,835

Updated: 14:48 Monday, July 14, 2003