YORK'S first visit to Huddersfield's new Lottery-inspired sports complex on the site of the old Bentley and Shaw brewery could hardly be described as auspicious.
On this heavily muddied pitch between the towering viaduct of the Huddersfield-Sheffield railway line and the river - the Clifton Park side became bogged down and lost 28-8.
Very much in contention at the break when only 7-3 down but reduced to 14 players in the final quarter with all substitutes on the park, York conceded a flurry of points.
There is no doubt that the costly sequence of injuries have undermined York's progress in the last three months.
The loss of key players of the ilk of Spanton and Francis - dominant second row specialists - and Stevenson, coupled with the departures of the half back pairing of Kaye and Bowling has stretched resources to the limit.
York's ill-luck even continued in the warm-up before this game - when fly half Andy Brown was forced to withdraw with muscular problems.
The hurriedly reshuffled side were off to the worst possible start when seven points were conceded in the home sides first hacking movement.
A driving maul through a sea of glutinous mud had York floundering and second row Andy Rawes claimed the touchdown and fly half Marcus Kelly, the conversion.
Huddersfield have always relied on their big powerful running pack to target the opposition - a wearing down process that inevitably creates gaps in defences.
This game was no exception and the York forwards fought hard throughout this bruising encounter to contain this threat.
Russ Allerton in the unaccustomed position of fullback tackled well and his handling throughout the match could not be faulted.
York's backs were prominent with Sean Bass and Dan Wood on his recall both making good runs.
Only a forward pass to winger John Smith prevented a certain try as York, territorially, were having more of the game. Nathan Savage pulled back the score to 7-3 with a penalty but neither side were able to dominate in a generally poor first half.
Neil Lineham and Dave Dorking replaced Dai Lockyer and Ray McLeod at the interval and shortly afterwards Julian McTavish was helped off the field following a punch to the head.
The home side committed one misdemeanour too many for a tolerant referee and prop John Pearson was yellow-carded.
A brace of tries from winger Steve Lynch increased the scoreline to 17-3 but York came back strongly with Russ Allerton - following a break by Gary Cassidy - linking up with the backs to almost put winger John Smith over in the corner.
Pressure paid off, as from a five metre scrum, No 8 Pete Curtis dummied his way over on the blind side.
With McTavish who had returned earlier but now withdrew feeling the effects of the earlier blow, York were reduced to seven forwards.
Kelly's penalty and drop goal extended the lead and in the closing minutes as the home team laid siege to the York line, the defences were stretched and ran out of cover as winger Phil Carter dived over in the corner to complete a somewhat flattering scoreline but nevertheless a well-deserved victory for on the day. Huddersfield were the better all-round side.
Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
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