RECENT recruit Jack Lee’s immediate impact on York City Knights has seen him named the Press Player of the Month for May – a vote which has been backed by coach James Ratcliffe.

Hooker Lee, pictured, joined York from Featherstone in mid-April, initially on loan, and while he quickly won over the coaching staff – with that switch becoming permanent and including a contract for 2011 – he has clearly also won over the supporters, as he came top of the Press readers’ poll for the monthly accolade.

Furthermore, Ratcliffe reckons the supporters won’t even have seen much of the good work he does off the pitch.

He told The Press: “Jack’s been a good influence for us, not just with what he does on the field. He has a positive effect off the field as well.

“He can offer an opinion in training on how we can improve, and it’s always positive, never anything derogatory. He’s been good for us.”

He added: “He probably deserves the award for his performances. Against Rochdale he probably tried a bit too hard – he ran about a bit too much – but he’s a smart player around dummy-half, defensively he’s very good and he’s good with the ball in hand.”

Lee had already jumped into the top five in the Northern/Press Player of the Year standings after little more than a month at the club. And the three bonus points earned as being Player of the Month lifts him up to joint-second.

Lee was not among the trio who picked up Player of the Year points after last Sunday’s wonderful win over Blackpool.

Tom Lineham was our man of the match, and not just for his late match-winning try, so collects three points.

Nathan Freer was unlucky to miss the top accolade – the try just swung it for Lineham – after possibly his best and most consistent performance of the season, but collects two points as our second-best player.

Any number of players could have collected points this week – what a nice surprise it is to say that – but the winner of the remaining point as our third-best player was Luke Hardbottle, who was everywhere at loose-forward and tackled well above his weight.

Northern/Press Player of the Year standings: Waterman 16pts, Ross 13, Waller 11, Lee 11, McLocklan 10, Thorman 7, Tuffour 7, Freer 7, Blakeway 5, Lineham 4, Applegarth 4, Stamp 3, Fallon 3, Stearman 2, Bromilow 2, Wilson 2, Benson 2, Reittie 2, Hill 2, Ratcliffe 2, Lewis 2, Hardbottle 2, Clough 1.

THE Knights Supporters’ Club coach to Keighley tomorrow will leave The Ainsty at noon, Clarence Street at 12.15pm and Huntington Stadium at 12.30pm. Prices are £14 for adults and £6 for under-16s. To book, phone 07958 569266.

The draw for the semi-finals of the Northern Rail Cup will take place tomorrow at 5.15pm and will be broadcast live on BBC Radio Leeds and on the BBC iPlayer.

NORTHERN Rail 9s and Challenge Cup final tickets are also available from the Knights.

The 9s take place in Blackpool on Saturday, July 17. Tickets are available for £9 (adults) and £5 (concessions) and include the full day’s play. The club keep 100 per cent of the money generated from tickets they sell. If the Knights beat the odds and reach the Northern Rail Cup final, all tickets can be upgraded.

Tickets for Wembley are available in the £41 and £26 sections and the club keep £13 from each one they sell.

THE Knights are collecting Sainsbury’s ‘Active Kids’ vouchers to exchange for equipment used in the community development programme.

Anyone wanting to donate their vouchers to the club should take them to the Huntington Stadium office or post them to York City Knights, Roland Court, Huntington Road, York, YO32 9PW.

THE raffle prize of a signed England shirt was unclaimed at last Sunday’s match against Blackpool. The winning ticket number was 768. Whoever has that ticket should phone the Knights’ office on 01904 641724.

FINALLY, this column would like to pass on condolences to the family, friends and team-mates of 31-year-old former Workington and Whitehaven star Garry Purdham, one of the people to be killed in the shooting horror in Cumbria this week.

It kind of puts everything else into perspective.

Tickets on sale for ‘ill-timed’ double-header

THE Knights are selling tickets for their match against London Skolars at the Stoop on Saturday, June 12 (2.30pm).

The game is a curtain-raiser to the Harlequins v Leeds Super League match that afternoon (5pm) and fans can take in both games for £15 (adults), £10 (over-65s and students) or £5 (under-16s).

To book tickets, call the Knights office on 01904 641724 or go to Huntington Stadium. The Knights receive 10 per cent cashback from all tickets sold via the club.

The Harlequins v Leeds game clashes with the England v France match at Leigh Sports Village, and the fact Leeds had four players in the national squad meant there was a danger of their match being postponed, with a knock-on effect on the Skolars v Knights game. In the end, there was no postponement.

Nevertheless, it is further evidence that nothing can be simple in rugby league.

It seems daft that an international is on the same weekend as a programme of league games, and daft that effort should go into arranging this double-header at The Stoop when it was always likely that Leeds would have a number of players picked for England The fact it is on the same day, also, as an England match in the World Cup in South Africa just makes it all that much sillier. I can’t imagine the attendance figure at the rugby is likely to win out.

A YOUNG Knights reserves lost 42-10 to Leigh on Thursday, but coach Mick Ramsden was still happy with his side’s display against the unbeaten Reserve Team Championship leaders.

As reported on www.thepress.co.uk, the only players with any real first-team experience – winger Wayne Reittie and scrum-half Jonathan Schofield - scored the Knights’ two tries, with the latter adding a goal.

Championship big-guns Leigh, who have averaged more than 50 points a match in the reserves, had a strong side out.

Knights general manager Ian Wilson said: “Mick was pleased with the performance. We conceded a couple of soft tries but Leigh had a very experienced side out and we had a young side out with a lot of teenagers. Quite a few lads played well, we just lacked that bit of experience.”

The new recruit from York Acorn ARLC, Mike Embleton, was taken off after an hour of his first game in Knights colours, with one eye on tomorrow’s Northern Rail Cup quarter-final at Keighley. Davey Burns, another recent recruit from Acorn, and scholarship graduate Joe Dey also did well and were named in a provisional 19-man squad for tomorrow. Stand-off Scott Woods was another to shine.