YORK City Knights were staring at embarrassment.

They had needed Tom Carr to kick a penalty with five minutes left, to boos echoing around Langtree Park, to eke out a 20-18 lead against the amateurs of Blackbrook with five minutes of their Challenge Cup third round tie left.

But their reprieve was shortlived as Brook were awarded a penalty themselves, went for broke and ran it, and scored through Greg Hale, to spark wild celebrations. Lee Marsh, the former Leigh and Swinton player, converted.

York were indeed facing embarrassment, and humiliating headlines aplenty. Championship clubs just do not lose to amateur opposition.

Luckily, though, they had a get out of jail free card, and Jonny Presley played it to perfection.

The Knights won the ball back on a short restart, giving them one last set of six to save themselves.

Unlike most other sets, they got to the end of it, and Presley kept his composure and executed a perfect kick which half-back partner Tom Carr raced onto and touched down, a yard before it bounced dead.

Carr’s conversion then won the game, 26-24, with the hooter giving Blackbrook no time to restart.

Gary Thornton’s men had been shoddy, predictable (when they didn’t drop the ball), slow and utterly out-enthused. But they booked their place in today’s fourth-round draw.

How fortunes flutter in sport.

Last weekend, there was the high of that superb win over Championship title favourites and Super League wannabes Featherstone, followed by the low of that last-second loss at Barrow. Then this. Is it a low or is it a high – or just mind-numbing relief?

Either way, even the most ardent of Knights fans would have felt for Blackbrook, their moment of glory being whisked away, as cruelly as York saw victory at Barrow taken from them.

Talk of humiliation for York actually does Blackbrook’s performance an injustice. Of course they were aided by the Knights’ awfulness, but defensively they were well-organised, and while they lacked the potency of Championship teams, who surely would have walloped York on this showing, they were good with the ball too, scoring four fine tries. They really did the amateur game proud.

Marsh, the former Swinton and Leigh man, had an excellent kicking game and, while he may have filled out a bit since leaving the pro ranks, he still possessed nous at stand-off.

Ste Marsh never stopped up front, subs Craig Lyon and Kyle Smith brought reinvigoration, and Sean Richardson, the former Batley forward now in his 40th year, clearly enjoyed making his mark against his former coach at the Bulldogs.

Thornton, to his credit, headed straight for the big man to congratulate him as the home team left the field to a standing ovation.

The Knights’ performance, conversely, deserved no such acclaim. The one redeeming feature was they somehow conjured up that winning try. For that, they must thank Presley and Carr, two of their better (or least worst) performers.

For much of the time, though, Blackbrook were showing York how York should have been playing.

The Knights had gone ahead after 25 minutes of push and shove. It was their first real chance, Presley’s initial good run and pass being taken on by Nathan Freer, whose inside ball gave James Ford an easy run-in. Carr converted.

It wasn’t the catalyst for good rugby, though, and Blackbrook struck back just before the break.

Some excellent play ended with Greg Hale being awarded a penalty 25 metres out for a high tackle by Presley.

The ball went right where Lee Marsh drove close and Lyon crashed over, Marsh converting.

Whatever Thornton said at half-time did not work as Ben Dent, Jack Aldous, twice, and Craig Potter all coughed up possession as York failed to get out of their own half.

Blackbrook eventually benefited as Marsh crashed over and converted, the defence left at sixes and sevens after Neil Babbs’ surge on the back of smart interplay was halted only by last man Dent.

York, shocked into action, finally got into home territory and scored a try not in keeping with their performance, Adam Sullivan showing strength and class to send James Haynes through and he gave Presley the scoring pass. Carr goaled.

However, they then reverted to type, and suffered the consequences with a third home try.

After a great run down the left by Lee Marsh, Greg Hale kicked inside, where a gleeful Sean Forber scored. Stephen Parkinson goaled. Marsh blotted his copybook when spilling the ball in front of his own sticks, York not passing up the gift as Jack Lee twisted over and Carr goaled to make it 18-18 with 11 minutes left.

The press bench began asking what happens if there’s a tie. Nobody had expected it to be close. Let’s not forget, Blackbrook are new even to the National Conference League, playing in the same division three as Heworth.

In the end, it didn’t matter given that dramatic finale.

York thus bagged their first victory on the road win since the Northern Rail Cup match at Doncaster in February 2012, 16 away games ago. But it wasn’t anything like how they wanted it to be.


Match facts

Blackbrook: Cunningham, Parkinson, Hale, Leonard, Hewitt, L Marsh, Fairhurst, S Marsh, Honey, Babbs, Richardson, Webster, Springford. Subs (all used): Forber, Glover, Lyon, K Smith.

Tries: Lyon 36; L Marsh 49; Forber 60; Hale 77.

Conversions: L Marsh 36, 49, 77; Parkinson 60.

Knights: Haynes 6, Dent 4, Ford 5, Latus 5, Elliott 5, Carr 5, Presley 6, Freer 5, Lee 6, Aldous 4, E Smith 5, Craig 4, Potter 5. Subs (all used): Carter 5, Sullivan 6, Stenchion 6, Brining 6.

Tries: Ford 25; Presley 53; Lee 69; Carr 80.

Conversions: Carr 25, 53, 69, 80.

Penalty: Carr 75.

Man of the match: Jack Lee, above – York looked worse without him, but really this man-of-the-match award should go to any number of the Blackbrook players.

Referee: Dave Merrick (Pontefract) – pretty good.

Penalties: 4-6.

Half-time: 6-6.

Attendance: 500 approx.

Weather: pleasant enough.

Moment of the match: watching a ball boy try to find a ball lost in the empty seats of the far stand, as players stood around waiting for the chance to get on with things.

Gaffe of the match: too many to mention here.

Gamebreaker: Jonny Presley had to get his kick right and it couldn’t have been better to give Tom Carr the match-winning try.

Match rating: York were awful and Blackbrook were excellent, but even then no one quite expected this kind of drama.