York City Knights eclipse class of 2012 with Workington Town win

A FINE win over Swinton, a narrow and probably undeserved loss to Halifax, and now this, a thumping 48-6 defeat of Workington.

It seems York City Knights boss Gary Thornton’s aim to make Huntington Stadium a “difficult place to come and get a result” is so far being fulfilled.

The Knights were full value for this victory, too, which lifted them to eighth in the Kingstone Press Championship on eight points – one more than they achieved in all of 2012.

It was the worst promoted Town have played this season, in a hot and cold start to life in the higher tier, but no one should take credit away from York’s performance.

It was solid to begin with but, once they got on top, they were clinical at the scoring end, and resolute at the other, on the few occasions the Cumbrians got into their territory.

As is often the way with big wins, there were standout performances across the park, but did anyone do more to affect the game than Matt Nicholson on his surprise return to the line-up?

The former Dewsbury packman had a scan on his troublesome shoulder on Friday and was told he needed surgery to fix a labral tear. However, having got through training this week, he wanted to play and so he postponed surgery to do so, turning out at loose-forward rather than in his usual prop berth.

His opening 20-minute spell was excellent, breaking tackles, getting offloads out and causing the visitors problems aplenty. In a 30-minute second-half spell, he did likewise, capping it with a solo break down the middle which handed a hat-trick try to Jack Lee.

Hooker Lee deserves his plaudits, too, having been given the armband in the absence of crocked duo James Ford and Jason Golden, and coming up with a captain’s show.

Player of the Month Jack Aldous – the non-stop prop who must be fitted with Duracell batteries – was the sponsors’ man of the match, second-rows Dean Hadley and young Ed Smith gave such displays that first-choice back-rowers Jason Golden and Sam Scott were not unduly missed, and behind this pack, which outplayed the bigger Workington six, half-backs Jonny Presley and Danny Nicklas prodded, probed and created openings.

George Elliott showed class on one wing, Jack Latus a laudable workrate on the other, and at the very back, Tom Carr displayed an array of talents that bodes well for the future.

The full-back did seem to get over-confident midway through proceedings, which morphed into complacency as highlighted by his fumbling a restart and a lazy penalty to touch which looped straight to the opposition, but a try, one near miss when bouncing the ball down in stretching for the line, six goals, a solo kick-and-chase that forced a dropout, and a hand or boot in one or two other scores more than made up for the errors.

Lee had got the scoreboard ticking on 12 minutes after a solid opening, digging over from dummy-half after Nicholson and Smith had driven close.

Workington were then unlucky to be penalised for dragging Jack Briscoe into touch on the restart, their misfortune compounded as Briscoe finished the attacking set that followed with a try, Hadley's nice hands the creator.

But Town could hardly have any other complaints.

Well, barring former Super League star Jamie Thackray, of course, who had one too many come the final quarter when, with ten minutes to go, he was sin-binned for dissent when lining up for a restart and duly said something else to referee Gareth Hewer and saw the yellow card turn to red.

Latus was denied by a foot in touch after an enterprising attack on a “free play” following a Town knock-on.

In the very next set, a smart Carr kick down the short side gave Briscoe his second try.

Nicklas’ left foot then came to the fore, setting up tries for Hadley and Carr, the latter bursting through to take the ball on the bounce, for a 26-0 interval lead.

Town had beaten Barrow 28-0 in the second half last week to win 38-10, but Presley’s smart try three minutes after the interval dispelled fears lightning would strike twice.

The Knights did go off the boil.

However, while Town debutant Kayle Connor and Callum Phillips had tries in either half disallowed for a knock-on under a kick and a blatant forward off-load respectively, the hosts would still have kept a clean sheet but for misfortune – the visitors’ sole try coming as Karl Olstrum, their standout player, saw a kick rebound straight to him allowing him to send Carl Forber in to cross and convert.

However, a superb Smith offload saw Lee get his second try, a Nicklas kick gave Hadley his second, and, after Thackray departed, Nicholson superbly sent Lee streaking home with a treble yell.

Any more of this and those stay-away York fans might yet come back.

Match facts

Knights: Carr 8, Elliott 8, Haynes 7, Briscoe 7, Latus 8, Nicklas 8, Presley 8, Potter 7, Lee 8, Aldous 8, Hadley 8, Smith 8, Nicholson 9. Subs (all used): Lyons 7, Iley 8, Bell 6, Sullivan 8.

Tries: Lee 12, 65, 75; Briscoe 15, 23; Hadley 26, 68; Carr 40; Presley 43.

Conversions: Carr 12, 23, 40, 65, 68, 75.

Workington: Carter, Mossop, Connor, Morris, Calderwood, Lupton, Forber, Dowes, C Phillips, Thackray, B Phillips, Stack, Olstrum. Subs (all used): Coward, Acton, Walne, Shackley.

Tries: Forber 58.

Conversions: Forber 58.

Sin-binned: Thackray 71.

Sent off: Thackray 71.

Man of the match: Matt Nicholson – he was on for less than an hour but in that time he bust tackles, set up tries and made a big difference, playing through the pain of his shoulder problem too.

Referee: Gareth Hewer (Whitehaven) – okay.

Penalties: 7-8.

Half-time: 26-0.

Attendance: 510.

Weather: very cold, windy, and with light snow showers to boot.

Moment of the match: Ed Smith was tackled short of the line, swallowed up by defenders, but out of nowhere popped up an offload for Jack Lee to get his second try. A ludicrously good take, one-handed, above his head, by Dean Hadley from a wayward pass deserves a mention too.

Gaffe of the match: Jamie Thackray, the experienced prop of Super League pedigree, had already been spoken to when, prior to a restart, he decided to chunter again at the ref to earn a yellow card, and then chunter some more to have it upgraded to red.

Gamebreaker: Jonny Presley’s solo try three minutes after the interval allayed concern Town might repeat their excellent match-winning second-half performance of a week earlier.

Match rating: the Knights were quicker, smarter and stronger in every department.