MARK Applegarth had mixed emotions as York Knights overcame Widnes Vikings to earn their spot in the Betfred Championship Play-off Semi-Finals.

The Knights boss blasted his side’s sluggish start but was left delighted by a second half that saw them take complete control of proceedings and run out eventual 27-10 victors.

A Tom Lineham hat-trick ultimately did the damage for York, whilst Joe Law and Jesse Dee also found the whitewash, and captain Liam Harris added a drop-goal midway through the second half at a rapturous LNER Community Stadium.

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“I’m happy to be in the Semi-Final,” admitted a perplexed Applegarth.

“Obviously when you get to this stage of the year, it’s all about winning and making sure that you’re getting through to the next round.

“But I’ve got to give credit to Widnes, I thought in that first half especially, they were all over us. I think they out-enthused us and there’s a lesson for us to learn there in terms of our starts.

“Next week, we won’t be able to give that sort of start away in terms of the energy battle and effort battle, so there’s a lesson for us there.

“But I’m really proud that we learned our lesson in that second half, and I thought we were absolutely outstanding.

“We spoke about upping the ante and making sure we were the aggressors and that we would dictate the tempo of the game, and I thought the lads went about their business really well in the second half.”

As York had done at the DCBL Stadium last month, Widnes opted to eke out an early advantage from the tee, with Tom Gilmore slotting over the opening two points with just five minutes on the clock.

Lineham momentarily put the Knights in front, having been left in acres of space from Nikau Williams’ stunning cut-out pass to stroll across into the left corner, before Gilmore again levelled things up from in front of the posts.

It was an opening half that ebbed and flowed, though the hosts had seemed favourites to push on after Wakefield loanee Law again exploited a weak right-edge defence to score his sixth try of the season, and second in as many matches against the Vikings.

But York were again their own worst enemies on the stroke of half time as Welsh international Rhodri Lloyd fought his way through out wide.

A Tom Lineham hat-trick did the damage against Widnes.A Tom Lineham hat-trick did the majority of the damage against Widnes. (Image: Craig Hawkhead Photography) Applegarth explained his side had received somewhat of a hairdryer treatment from both himself and Harris at half time, and it certainly had the desired effect. With a renewed intensity, rapid line speed and hard-hitting attack, they completely blew Widnes away.

Williams fed Lineham, who fought off two defenders as he dived across into the left corner before Harris effectively put his side two scores in front with a drop-goal shortly before the half reached its midpoint.

The Knights then killed the game off with two tries in three minutes.

First, second-rower Dee picked off a loose pass on halfway before fending off the charge of five defenders to score beneath the posts, before Ata Hingano combined with Williams, who recycled the ball for Lineham to complete his hat-trick with 15 minutes left to play.

Widnes did offer up a late flurry of chances but could find no way through.

A slow start though has become a running theme for the Knights, who have fallen behind in each of their last four matches.

And Applegarth accepted they can seldom afford to give League Leaders’ Shield winners Wakefield Trinity or Toulouse Olympique a head start in next weekend’s Semi-Final.

“I think it’s just smarts,” he explained.

“If you look at our completion rate we were right up there, it’s more that we didn’t end the sets the way we wanted in terms of kicking the ball into the corner and making their big middles get behind the ball – just the basics of the game at this level.

“You’ve probably got to say it’s a bit more composure needed from us, but it wasn’t like we were a million miles off. It’s just that when you get to this stage of the year when you’re playing teams like Widnes, they’re going to burn you, and I thought we did get burned.

“Then we compounded it giving away penalties and all of a sudden you’ve gone from finishing the set 15 metres off their line and then you’re defending your tryline.

“You do too much tryline defence against anyone, and you’re eventually going to cough up a penalty.

“I don’t know whether to be happy or sad because we’ve only conceded one try, but I thought we gifted them some pretty easy field position at the same time."