Sully awarded for his ‘Mr Consistency’ tag (From York Press)

Sully awarded for his ‘Mr Consistency’ tag

9:57am Saturday 5th May 2012 in Diary By Peter Martini, peter.martini@thepress.co.uk

ADAM SULLIVAN has earned the label ‘Mr Consistency’ over recent times and it is that characteristic that has earned him the York City Knights Player of the Month award for April.

The accolade is voted for by readers of The Press, and player-boss Chris Thorman reckons the fact Sullivan topped the latest poll – covering the Championship defeats to Hunslet and Batley and the Challenge Cup loss to Sheffield – was deserved recognition for his efforts since returning to the club in the off-season after a two-year sojourn at Hunslet.

It also saw him move to the summit of The Press Player of the Year leaderboard.

The 29-year-old, who was named The Press Player of the Year in the Knights’ National League Two title-winning campaign in 2005, has not necessarily stood out as a match-winner like he did several times that season, but likewise he has never stood out for wrong reasons, being generally error-free in both attack and defence and doing all the hard graft without complaint.

These abilities have marked him out as one of the most dependable prop forwards in the semi-professional arena.

Thorman said: “He’s been consistent the whole way through the Northern Rail Cup and the league. He’s ‘Mr Consistency’. He takes pride in his performance, he trains well and has a fantastic attitude. He’s the model professional.”

This is Sullivan’s second Player of the Month award since collecting a hat-trick of such accolades in 2005. His other came in May 2009. He has been an ever-present this year barring the Northern Rail Cup match against Gateshead, when he was rested.

Thorman added: “He’s big and strong and defensively he makes decent decisions and does not miss one-on-one tackles. It’s only noticeable when he does miss a tackle because it’s so rare.”

Sullivan will be presented with his Player of the Month award ahead of the Knights’ next home match, against Sheffield next Thursday night, which, like tomorrow’s game at Swinton, will be televised live on Premier Sports.

The award means Sullivan gains three bonus points for his Press Player of the Year tally, and these points have seen him leapfrog Jack Aldous at the top of those standings.

The Press Player of the Year standings: Sullivan 10pts, Aldous 9, King 7, Thorman 6, Clarke 5, Ford 5, Bush 4, Tansey 4, Sutton 4, Green 3, Garside 3, Lee 3, Hellewell 3, Turner 3, Freer 3, Houston 3.

THE community stadium saga may be rumbling on in York, but if and when all the planning issues, financial considerations and questionable knock-on effects for the city are overcome, here’s hoping we won’t have to endure the kind of farce Wigan has seen this week.

It would appear even basic arrangements over shared arena might not always be straightforward given the question marks hanging over the huge Challenge Cup sixth round tie between Wigan and St Helens a week today.

That game, as one would imagine, was picked for Saturday afternoon television coverage by the BBC, and the broadcast agreements basically mean what they say goes.

Only, Wigan at first didn’t have a pitch to play it on due to the share agreement at their DW Arena.

Wigan Athletic footballers get first dabs on using the stadium and will play Wolves there in their last match of the season a week tomorrow, when they may need the three points for Premier League survival.

While this would seemingly free up the stadium for the day before, Wigan owner Dave Whelan does not want rugby matches played on the ground 24 hours prior to a football game – especially when Premier League status might be at stake.

After the Rugby Football League were apparently besieged with calls from fans of both clubs, and probably the BBC too, who were desperate to know where it will be played, agreement was finally reached yesterday to play the game at the DW.

But then it became apparent the stadium was already booked for two wedding receptions, leaving fears one of the stands would remain closed to fans.

The Wigan clubs generally co-habit well, with fixtures on alternate weekends, but in this case, it seems that, while they have long known the fixture schedule and that there was always a chance of a home cup tie on this date, the Warriors had no contingency plans in place in case of a clash.

Mind you, I say “here’s hoping we in York don’t have to endure this kind of farce”, but perhaps here’s hoping we do – as it would at least mean we’d actually get this community stadium and have both clubs playing big games there.

FOR those that don’t know, it was the needs of television that brought about the noon kick-off for the Knights’ match away to Swinton tomorrow.

It was originally penned in for Premier Sports coverage on Thursday but that would have clashed with the Blue Square Bet play-off between Luton and Wrexham, also on Premier Sports.

It was then put back to today – originally at 4pm but then 1pm as the later kick-off would have clashed with the FA Cup final. But then another change to TV scheduling meant the game was switched to tomorrow, and it had to kick off at noon so it did not clash with the big Premier League title fight games on Sky Sports between Manchester City and Newcastle at 1.30pm and Man United and Swansea at 4pm.

THE Knights’ away game at Featherstone Rovers later this month has been brought forward a day and will now be played on Saturday, May 19, with a 6pm kick off. This, though, had nothing to do with TV. A Featherstone spokesman said they wanted to trial the popularity of a Saturday evening kick-off and the Knights were amenable to the switch.

Reserves crash but Brett warms up well for hooker role

BRETT TURNER scored two tries from acting-half for York City Knights reserves last night, albeit in a heavy home defeat as coach Graham Davey’s outfit finished with only 12 men due to first-team considerations.

The Knights led 12-0 thanks to Turner’s double – one digging in from a play-the-ball close to the line and the other a smart solo finish – but unbeaten Reserve Championship leaders Featherstone hit back to win 58-18.

Knights scrum-half Sean Carmody knocked on while trying to get through bodies at the try line as York led 12-6 during an even first half, but a 40-20 set up an equaliser and a rare error by Turner – losing the ball in contact at the end of a good run – saw Rovers go up the other end to take an 18-12 interval lead As reported by The Press, Turner was having a run at hooker as he is earmarked for that role with the first team, and he was duly withdrawn at half-time as he is set to play in the Knights’ Championship match away to Swinton tomorrow.

Dave Sutton, playing in the second row, and another in first-team contention, also went off injured, as did Gareth Poutney.

Thereafter, an inexperienced York XIII, featuring a few students from York St John University, were pretty much blown away by Rovers’ strong second string side.

The Knights went down to 12 men for the last ten minutes as back-rower Rhys Clarke was withdrawn, again with an eye on tomorrow’s first-team match, but they still managed a late consolation try when Carmody’s excellent off-load saw prop Adam Howard – who played the full 80 minutes – crash in.

Tyler Craig goaled, to add to Carmody’s earlier conversions.