JACK LEE had arguably his least effective game since joining York City Knights three months ago – but he still came up with the goods when it most mattered.

The hooker, having collected his second consecutive Press Player of the Month award before kick-off, was kept quiet throughout by a hard-working Workington side and even came up with a couple of uncharacteristic handling errors.

But with Town leading 14-12 having scored the try of the match with eight minutes remaining, and with the clock ticking down, he scored a superb solo try to give the injury-hit Knights the spoils and maintain their faint hopes of usurping Blackpool from third place in the Championship One table to thereby get an advantageous path in the play-offs.

It was a similar story for Steve Lewis. The injury-plagued utility ace was back from another spell on the sidelines and, entering into the fray in the second half, he came up with a couple of knock-ons to mar his return. But, with his next contribution, he finished superbly to put the Knights ahead for the first time in the match with 67 minutes gone.

In fact, that was the story of the Knights’ performance throughout. For everything they did well, they did something poorly. Chris Thorman won possession back with some smart restarts; Tom Lineham, Mike Mitchell and Danny Wilson tackled opponents into touch; good defence held the Cumbrians out; but then possession was lost cheaply, several times early in the tackle count, with Wilson and Mitchell among the culprits; there were some unnecessary offloads; and for the first hour, there was no cutting edge in the final third albeit against stoic defence.

However, in the most pleasing aspect for Knights boss Dave Woods, the thing they did best was work hard and show a never-say-die attitude.

It was also pleasing they did it without key strike players, big Brett Waller having joined points-machine Lee Waterman on the sidelines due to injury, while another prop, Alex Benson, completed his ban.

They did it, too, having had to throw rookie prop Callum Dinsdale in at the deep end for his professional debut. That said, the small, stocky prop did okay. He looked tired at the end of his short spells but he did not let anyone down, and nearly came up with a superb offload that might have put Lee in.

He was grateful for the support of fellow front-rowers Nathan Freer and Jack Stearman, though. Freer put in a massive stint to make up for the lack of prop numbers, and Stearman made an impact like Stearman does. Chris Clough and Jordan Ross also moved up from second-row to help out at times, though Clough’s display was marred by daft offloads.

Freer’s efforts should have been rewarded with a first-half try but this was one of three York efforts chalked off by referee Dave Merrick, who marred his own decent display with dubious decisions at key times, both teams suffering.

The first came after two minutes when he deemed York playmaker Chris Thorman had not got the ball down. Five minutes later, Workington were ahead as hooker Jack Pedley got past dozing defence from close-range, Darren Holt converting.

Town thought they had increased their lead when Scott Kaighan picked up a loose ball and sprinted the length of the field.

However, a touch judge deemed there had been a knock-on as players challenged for a high ball at the other end.

From the scrum that followed, Freer blasted over but Merrick was unsighted when he grounded the ball.

Holt added penalties either side of half-time for Town’s 10-0 lead but in between times York centre Danny Allan also had a try ruled out, again dubiously, for obstruction.

It seemed the Knights were destined not to break their duck but they finally got on the board as Thorman’s superb pass gave Mike Mitchell the chance to dive over while being tackled.

Town second-row Mike Whitehead was then harshly yellow-carded as he barged over Dan Wilson as the York winger tried to protect his full-back under a high kick. Town had, however, been warned for persistent infringing.

York benefited from the extra man as Lewis scored from an excellent off-load by the increasingly eye-catching Luke Hardbottle, with Danny Ratcliffe’s second goal putting them ahead.

Workington, who claimed Lewis had not grounded the ball properly, hit back with eight minutes left when, after Holt was prevented from kicking the ball in his own half by rush defence, he ran the last tackle, an excellent off-the-cuff attack which ended with Jarrad Stack crossing.

But, with three minutes left, Lee, when it seemed all avenues were closed, somehow got through to touch down, with Ratcliffe adding his third conversion to seal an ultimately thrilling victory.

Knights: Haynes 6, Wilson 5, Mitchell 6, Allan 6, Lineham 6, Thorman 7, Ratcliffe 6, Freer 7, Lee 6, Dinsdale 6, Ross 6, Duckworth 6, Hardbottle 8. Subs (all used): Williams 7, Lewis 6, Clough 5, Stearman 8.

Tries: Mitchell 58; Lewis 67; Lee 77.

Conversions: Ratcliffe 58, 67, 77.

Penalties: None.

Drop goals: None.

Sin-binned: None.

Sent off: None.

Town: Carter, Backhouse, Low, Frazer, Marshall, Holt, Kaighan, Rhodes, Pedley, Coward, Whitehead, Stack, Coupar. Subs (all used): Johnson, Robinson, McKenna, MacDonald.

Tries: Pedley 7; Stack 72.

Conversions: Holt 7.

Penalties: Holt 40, 50.

Drop goals: None.

Sin-binned: Whitehead 62.

Sent off: None.

Man of the match: Luke Hardbottle – the loose-forward was textbook as always in defence, ever busy, and had an increasing influence as the match went on.

Referee: Dave Merrick (Castleford) – generally very good but big decisions – to rule out three York tries and one for Town, to allow Steve Lewis’ to stand, and to sin-bin Mike Whitehead – were all controversial and significant.

Penalty count: 14-6.

Weather watch: windy but okay.

Half-time: 0-8.

Attendance: 612.

Moment of the match: Jack Lee, after possibly his least effective game since arriving at the club, just couldn’t be kept down. He looked to have nowhere to go ten metres out but for some reason went by himself and somehow got over the try-line to get the late winner.

Gaffe of the match: referee Dave Merrick was probably unsighted when Nathan Freer grounded the ball over the try-line but his touch judge was not, and together they should certainly have allowed this first-half try to stand.

Game-breaker: Jack Lee’s match-winning try three minutes from time, after it looked like Town had pinched the points.

Match rating: it wasn’t one for those who like tries aplenty, but it was tactically interesting, and it had the nerves jangling.