Betfred League One: Hunslet 24 York City Knights 26
Hunslet: Watson, Foggin-Johnston, Chappell, Cooke, Ashton, Sanderson, Southernwood, Hema, Lee, Nicholson, Straugheir, Jordan-Roberts, Foster. Subs (all used): Halmshaw, Haley, Reed, Walton.
Tries: Jordan-Roberts 33; Chappell 40, 76; Walton 63.
Conversions: Sanderson 33, 40, 63, 76 (4/4).
Penalties: none.
Sent off: none.
Sin-binned: Walton 41.
Knights: Dagger 6, Saxton 6, Butler-Fleming 7, Hey 7, Mazive 8, Cockayne 8, C Robinson 7, A Robinson 7, Ellis 9, Horne 7, Batchelor 7, Scott 6, Spears 7. Subs (all used): Jubb 7, Siddons 6, Ronan Dixon 6, Porter 7.
Tries: Mazive 12, 24; Dagger 15; Cockayne 28.
Conversions: C Robinson 12, 15, 24, 28 (4/4).
Penalty: C Robinson 71 (1/2).
Sent off: none.
Sin-binned: none.
Man of the match: Andy Ellis – if the veteran hooker wasn’t on the field in the last quarter, the Knights might not have got over the line. Made lots of important yardage from dummy-half and also won the penalty that ultimately decided the outcome.
Referee: John McMullen (Wigan) – not too bad.
Penalty count: 8-7
Half-time: 12-24
Weather: hottest day of the season so far but with a breeze down the pitch.
Attendance: 729
Moment of the match: the pick of York’s tries was probably that finished by Ben Cockayne from Judah Mazive’s kick inside, with those two and Jake Butler-Fleming having combined excellently not for the only time in the match.
Gaffe of the match: there were a number of occasions when York did not help themselves but the defence for Hunslet’s middle two tries – standing and watching as Nathan Chappell caught and touched down a kick, and allowing Jack Walton to somehow get over the line when wrapped up - was particularly poor.
Gamebreaker: Hunslet had pulled the scores back to 26-24 in the dying minutes and, with tails up, were going for a late winner. It was certainly anybody’s game when Southernwood chipped, chased and hacked on goalwards, but, with home players bearing down, Joe Batchelor won the race and somehow controlled a horrible bouncing ball while facing his own line. Anything else and the Parksiders would have snatched victory.
Match rating: forget last week’s record win against a ragtag West Wales, this League One competition is a good one and, yet again, the Knights were involved in a wonderfully close match – the fourth time this term that only two points had separated the teams. James Ford’s men, after a superb opening half-hour, were out of sorts at times as Hunslet fought back from 24-0 down, but they just about held on, courtesy of a crucial 71st-minute penalty which made the difference, to keep pace with Bradford Bulls at the summit.
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