HAPPY birthday indeed.York City Knights celebrated their first anniversary yesterday by putting on perhaps their best-ever performance, certainly their best-ever second half, to stun leaders Chorley and guarantee their place in the National League Two play-offs.

The memorable 48-28 win against then leaders Keighley in July was special but yesterday's 36-32 triumph, although less comprehensive, probably tops it when all things are considered.

Chorley were on the back of a club record eight-game winning streak and played with great confidence, putting on a much better display than Keighley had.

York, meanwhile, were rank underdogs. They were fifth, had an uncertain play-off status, an injury list longer than a monkey's arm and several players still settling in.

Yet they gave a display of verve, vigour and bottle, turning around a first-half deficit to claim a win which lifted them to fourth, with one game of the regular season to come.

Lynx coach Darren Abram denied the game was entertaining, but most observers reckoned it was a game-of-the-season contender. The majority weren't wrong.

Okay, there were too many mistakes to call it a purists' classic, in the first half particularly, but it was end-to-end, there was quality rugby and it was all high pressure stuff. Indeed, it all left fans, never mind players, shattered.

York got the perfect start as Chorley fumbled the kick-off to concede a drop-out and from that attack Callaghan got a fine ball out to Rob Kama who squeezed over. The quick-fire try set the tone for an attack-dominated first half.

Brough goaled from the touchline and three minutes later added a penalty for reefing.

Chorley had barely touched the ball but from their first attack Chris Newall broke two tackles and gave the scoring pass to Mike Briggs.

Straight away York crossed again as Aussie Mark Stewart somehow got hold of Brough's chip to the corner to score his first try for the club.

Chorley then had a would-be try ruled out for a forward pass and conceded a penalty for complaining. Experienced prop Tim Street conceded another for argy-bargy and Brough extended the lead.

But Leigh Riddell fumbled the restart and Lynx scrum-half Craig Dean skipped past two defenders to score. Lynx took the lead on their next attack when a power-play saw Jamie Stenhouse sprint away.

That lead was extended when Briggs got over from dummy-half, and York were lucky it wasn't added to when referee Steve Addy, often the bane of Knights fans, deemed flying winger Eric Andrews had not reached a hack forward before the end-line.

Chorley shaded the first period and deserved the half-time lead, but it was reduced to 22-18 as Stewart leapt highest to take another perfect chip by Brough and touch down a carbon copy of his first.

Brough hit the post with the goal attempt but McCully, his main rival in the division's point-scoring charts, had done so twice in the half and, although Brough also missed a couple of drop-goal attempts in the second, he ended up winning the shoot-out with six goals to McCully's four and this ultimately proved the difference.

Either way, the half-time hooter sounded and the fans at last had chance to draw breath.

The breather didn't last long as opportunist handling saw Chorley score a length-of-the-field try finished by Chris Newall two minutes after the break, with York hitting straight back as Lee Jackson was first to the high restart to set up an attack which ended in Brough firing a ball to Graeme Hallas on a great angle to the line.

York kept the pressure on and some great off-the-cuff handling kept Chorley on the back foot, but chances came and went.

It seemed crucial York scored next to maintain the momentum - and cometh the hour, cometh the man mountain. John Okul, the Papua New Guinean powerhouse, barged through.

That new-found lead was extended to eight points as a ricochet from a grubber fell in York's favour and the ball was spun out to Alex Godfrey, who ignored spare men to cross. The Knights deserved the lucky ricochet.

However, it was far from game over as Chorley, taking advantage of the extra man while the injured Kama was being treated, saw Andrews, the league's top try-scorer, up his scoring sequence to 14 consecutive games with a kick-and-chase touchdown.

There were 12 minutes left and a mistake or bit of brilliance could have swung the game Chorley's way, but - although those 12 minutes took about two hours to elapse - the Knights stayed strong and the final hooter signalled wild celebrations on the terraces.

Knights: Godfrey 8, Deakin 8, Hallas 8, Stewart 9, Kama 8, Hughes 8, Brough 8, Hayes 9, Jackson 8, Helme 8, Callaghan 9, Riddell 7, Krause 9.

Subs (all used): Brown 7, Mears 8, Okul 9, Forsyth 8.

Tries: Kama 2; Stewart 10, 36; Hallas 45; Okul 55; Godfrey 64.

Conversions: Brough 2, 45, 55, 64.

Penalties: Brough 5, 17.

Drop goals: None

Sin-binned: None

Sent off: None

Chorley: McCully, Campbell, Garcia, Stenhouse, Andrews, Coates, Dean, Street, M Briggs, Roden, Redford, Newall, Hodson.

Subs used: S Smith, Blackwood, Rowley, Braddish.

Tries: Briggs 8, 29; Dean 19; Stenhouse 21; Newall 42; Andrews 68.

Conversions: McCully 8, 19, 29, 42

Penalties: None

Drop goals: None

Sin-binned: None

Sent off: None

Man of the match: Stick a pin in the team-sheet and you'll point out someone deserving of the award. But Rich Hayes, an injury doubt beforehand, gets the nod

HT: 18-22

Ref: Steve Addy (Huddersfield)

Penalty count: 6-6

Attendance: 1,077

Updated: 10:16 Monday, September 01, 2003