Knights 20, Skolars 20

9:51am Monday 26th May 2008

Comments (1)   Have your say »

THE Skolars of London ran out to the familiar strains of the Grange Hill theme tune at Huntington Stadium - and the visitors left York City Knights facing a week in detention.

The PA system wag's joke backfired on the home side, who were taught a few harsh lessons of their own in this Co-operative National League Two clash.

All the positives of the previous week's victory over table-topping Keighley Cougars rapidly ebbed away in a first half bossed by the lowly visitors.

The Cougars win was York's third in four games and was meant to herald the arrival of player-coach Paul March's team as serious contenders in the play-off race.

However, that particular jury is still out after they failed to dispatch a Skolars side suffering a woeful start to the campaign, which had seen them lose six out of seven games and ship 332 points.

But their scrambling defence was enough to cope with all the Knights could muster in the opening 40 minutes, while in-your-face prop forward Puna Rasaubale kept the hosts on the back foot.

Skolars half-backs Jermaine Coleman and Paul Thorman - one a former York trialist, the other a one-time Knights player - played the conditions to perfection.

With a stiff breeze behind them, the duo constantly turned the Knights defence around with kicks into the corners.

Left-winger Steve Lewis, in particular, looked uncomfortable facing his own posts and endured a torrid afternoon.

It was his misjudgment which produced the first try of the game. Coleman chipped a kick over the top and the bobbling ball twice eluded the clutches of Lewis.

As he grabbed at thin air, Corey Simms stole in to gain possession and, with great sleight of hand, send Namila Davui over for an eighth minute opener.

Thorman converted and five minutes later, after a 30-metre Davui break, the scrum-half added a penalty for a Knights infringement at a play the ball.

The Knights, meanwhile, were playing as if victory was a given. While the visitors probed for field position and looked to feed off the scraps of York's mistakes, the home side time and again chanced their arm on the final tackle.

All too often, however, they fumbled the crucial take or misdirected the key pass, and the moves broke down, frequently with playmaker March in possession.

Aside from a fourth-minute break by impressive centre Rob Spicer, who was hauled down inches short of the Skolars line, the Knights struggled to make meaningful inroads into the visitors' territory.

London centre Chris Shears was held up over the line on 31 minutes - inevitably after an astute Thorman kick - and hooker Gareth Honor was similarly denied late in the first half.

With the hooter imminent, the Knights got back into the game when second-rower Ross Divorty pouched a bouncing ball in the in-goal area for an opportunist score.

Esders converted and there was a great deal of optimism about the prospect of a second 40 minutes with the benefit of the wind.

Spicer's 75-metre interception try, following a mistake by Davui, should have been the cue for the Knights to pull clear, with Esders converting for a 12-8 advantage.

However, the lead changed hands four times in the second period, with tries by Shears and Davui for Skolars interspersed with touch downs from Esders and Rob Kelly for the home side.

While Thorman kicked both conversions, Esders was off target, sending the sides into the last ten minutes locked at 20-20.

In a frantic last four minutes, both sides desperately scrambled to create space for a drop goal.

Thorman dragged his attempt wide, while Danny Ratcliffe missed twice for York either side of Michael Chan's wayward pot-shot.

York ended the game as they started it - unsuccessfully running the ball on the last tackle.

Next up for March's men is a trip to Rochdale Hornets, where they will need to rediscover the ruthless streak which has seen them dispatch Blackpool Panthers, Swinton Lions and Keighley in the last four weeks.

match facts

Knights 20, Skolars 20

Knights: Leeke 6, Oakes 6, Esders 8, Spicer 8, Lewis 5, Ratcliffe 6, P March 6, Sullivan 7, Hughes 6, Bailey 7, Divorty 7, Kelly 6, Buckley 6. Subs (all used): Greenwood 7, Applegarth 6, Ekis 5, Woodcock 6.

Tries: Divorty 40; Spicer 44; Esders 53; Kelly 70.

Conversions: Esders 40, 44.

Penalties: none.

Drop goals: none.

Sin-binned: none.

Sent off: none.

Skolars:Goutta, Simms, Davui, Shears, Aggrey, Coleman, Thorman, Louw, Honor, Rasaubale, Thomas, Jonker, Barker. Subs (all used): Kerr, Ellison, Miller, Chan.

Tries: Davui 8, 59; Shears 49.

Conversions: Thorman 8, 49, 59.

Penalties: Thorman 13.

Drop goals: none.

Sin-binned: none.

Sent off: none.

Man of the match: Rob Spicer - the strong-running centre was the Knights player most likely to penetrate a well-organised Skolars defence. Pushed close by the hard-working Ryan Esders.

Referee: Paul Carr (Castleford).
Rating: A few puzzling decisions, including allowing any number of forward passes.

Penalty count: 6-2.

Weather: Windy... very windy.

Half-time: 6-8.

Attendance: 653.

Gamebreaker: Unfortunately for the Knights, there wasn't one. It should have been Rob Spicer's try just after half-time, which put them ahead for the first time in the match.

Moment of the match: The pass off the ground from Corey Simms to Namila Davui that created the game's opening try.

Match rating: A disappointing follow up to the Keighley win.

Have your say

What is your opinion on yesterday's crowd figure of only 653?