Newcastle Thunder 18 York City Knights 22

Newcastle: Simpson, Blair, Brown, Olpherts, Fox, Young, Hardcastle, Waller, Simons, McAvoy, Parker, H Aldous, J Aldous. Subs (all used): Nicklas, Rennie, Clarke, Milton.

Tries: Olpherts 7; Hardcastle 14, 73.

Conversions: Hardcastle 7, 14, 73.

Sin-binned: Nicklas 31; Fox 51; Brown 52.

Knights: Robson 8, Lancaster 7, Haynes 7, Rawsthorne 8, Saxton 6, Harris 6, Presley 6, Siddons 8, Ellis 6, Robinson 7, Batchelor 7, E Smith 7, Spears 7. Subs (all used): Carter 7, Thompson 6, Hey 6, Moran 7.

Tries: Rawsthorne 19; Robson 32; Robinson 55; E Smith 65.

Conversions: Rawsthorne 19, 55.

Penalty: Rawsthorne 40.

Sin-binned: Robson 52.

Man of the match: Ash Robson – created a try out of nothing, scored another and constantly troubled the hosts with his kick returns and incursions from the back.

Referee: Scott Mikalauskas (Wigan) – decision to award Derrell Olpherts’ opening try, when the centre seemingly bounced the ball down in desperation, was poor to say the least. Could easily have awarded the Knights a penalty try when Peter Fox took out Callum Lancaster off the ball. Otherwise not too bad.

Penalty count: 5-14

Half-time: 12-12

Weather: a bit dank.

Attendance: 1,500 approx.

Moment of the match: York’s first try. Ash Robson made it out of nothing as he fielded a kick near his own line and blasted through the chasers, found space and got his timing spot on to feed Nick Rawsthorne, who sprinted the 60 metres home.

Gaffe of the match: Tommy Saxton dropped a Benn Hardcastle kick – his wing was targeted a lot by Thunder early on – and Hardcastle himself benefited in the resulting attack with a try and conversion to increase the hosts’ early lead.

Gamebreaker: the Knights’ defence at the end got them their League One points, holding back a late Newcastle rally.

Match rating: a curtain-raiser for Magic Weekend, it wasn’t of the highest standard throughout but it was eventful and entertaining, and certainly exciting at the end.