ALEX BENSON suffered a new injury blow in York City Knights reserves' defeat to their Sheffield Eagles counterparts.

Mick Ramsden’s side staged a second-half fightback at Huntington Stadium but it was to no avail in a 42-26 loss.

They were not helped by the loss of Benson after ten minutes. The prop had been working his way back into first-team contention following a recurrent back problem.

Sheffield led 26-4 at half-time, half-back Jonathan Schofield getting the Knights’ try.

But York did better in the second half, as tries by second-row Jordan Rice, who is a Hull University student, first-team prop Nathan Freer, Gateshead-based hooker Derek Chatt and centre Mike Mitchell pulled the scores back to 36-26 before the visitors sealed the win in the last minute.