YORK City Knights are once again sweating on the fitness of key man David March.
The loose-forward limped off the Huntington Stadium pitch midway through the second half of the Knights' 25-14 defeat to Co-operative National League Two leaders Doncaster yesterday.
He has suffered a recurrence of a calf problem and, while it might be a pull, there are fears - not for the first time this season - that he has torn the muscle, meaning a lengthy lay-off.
The 28-year-old former Wakefield star, who followed player-coach Paul March, his twin brother, to York from the Super League club, has been troubled by calf problems for much of the season but has nevertheless been able to play most games.
Assistant-coach James Ratcliffe said: "It's definitely a pull and it might well be a tear. It's a big concern. He's been a stand-out player and it will be a disappointment if he has to miss any games."
However, the Knights did receive a pre-match boost - as predicted by The Press - as former Player of the Year Adam Sullivan signed for the club for the rest of the season.
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The 25-year-old prop has returned from a season in the French Elite League and put pen to paper before watching the game from the stands.
Ratcliffe said: "I've only seen Adam on DVDs and known about him from players and staff who were here last year, but they said he will be a real asset and give us some punch and size up front. We've got that to look forward to."
The club were also hoping to tie up a deal with Castleford second-row cum centre Tom Haberecht today. The Press revealed last week they were looking to bring the Aussie to Huntington Stadium.
Ratcliffe said his team were disappointed not to get more than a losing bonus point from yesterday's match, blaming their second-half performance for the loss. York had led 12-0 in the first half and 14-12 early in the second after Doncaster had tied the scores at half-time.
"We're really disappointed with what we came up with in the second half," he said.
"The effort has been there but there were some dumb efforts. We offered the ball up in the wrong areas and applied no pressure in the right areas.
"We came up with a lot of dumb football. We completed maybe four sets in the second half.
"We've therefore had to do a lot of defending. The effort can't be questioned but, no disrespect to Doncaster, I don't think they've won the game; I think we've lost it."
Ratcliffe, who asked for aggression in the pack before the match, was disappointed that referee Craig Halloran penalised some of the big hits that he believed were hard but fair.
"Danny Ekis and David March are making hard yards to get big tackles in and they're getting penalised," he said. "There were three occasions where we've gone in with aggression and been (wrongly) penalised."
Ratcliffe, though, was sure his side would return to winning form.
"It's now about trying to improve their efforts rather than having dumb efforts like the ones we came up with at times in the second half," he said.
I entirely agree with James Ratcliffe's comments. I think that we should have won this game, we outplayed Donny for the fist 40 minutes...they were extremely luck to get any points in the first half.
Unfortunately they had a guy called Carl Briggs and ultimately he was the difference between the teams. He played very well (wish we could afford him) and got the win for Donny.
However the Knights can take heart from this defeat, they played very well for most of the game and could have won the it!!
Best of luck to Sully, hope he can inspire the guys to the next win.
Also hope that the injured players are recovered or will be recovered such that we can support a first team squad that are capable of moving up the table.
Come on the Knights"
I entirely agree with James Ratcliffe's comments. I think that we should have won this game, we outplayed Donny for the fist 40 minutes...they were extremely luck to get any points in the first half.
Unfortunately they had a guy called Carl Briggs and ultimately he was the difference between the teams. He played very well (wish we could afford him) and got the win for Donny.
However the Knights can take heart from this defeat, they played very well for most of the game and could have won the it!!
Best of luck to Sully, hope he can inspire the guys to the next win.
Also hope that the injured players are recovered or will be recovered such that we can support a first team squad that are capable of moving up the table.
Come on the Knights"
Posted by: goliath246, York on 7:39pm Tue 6 May 08
Spoke with Ellery Hanley after the game who was very complimentary of the Knights and suggested that few teams will walk away from Huntingdon with points this season if we continue to play like that. Question is....will we continue to play like that or, hopefully, a wee bit better.
Spoke with Ellery Hanley after the game who was very complimentary of the Knights and suggested that few teams will walk away from Huntingdon with points this season if we continue to play like that. Question is....will we continue to play like that or, hopefully, a wee bit better.
I hope some of the YCFC supporters look at their team in a similar way to you guys next year. The YCFC fans would have been calling for the managers head by now. Good luck Knights.
I hope some of the YCFC supporters look at their team in a similar way to you guys next year. The YCFC fans would have been calling for the managers head by now. Good luck Knights.
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