Knights 18, Swinton 34

Even fewer sides will have any chance of coming away with the spoils if they later wave away another 12 points from a combination of shoddy defending and finishing at a crucial stage.

York City Knights were no exception yesterday as they were beaten 34-18 at home to open their league campaign on a low ebb.

It is not all doom and gloom just yet. Don't forget, Swinton have beaten the likes of Rochdale and Oldham this term so losing to them is no disgrace, while the Knights showed enough at times to suggest they are not far away from where they need to be, having the Lions - their in-form potential promotion rivals - under the cosh for periods.

However, the league season is only 18 games long, so, with the Northern Rail Cup now out of the way, they don't have very long to get there.

Indeed, no aspiring champions can probably afford to lose more than three or four games, so ticking one off so soon makes things that much harder.

Slow starts are simply not the name of the game - as yesterday showed.

An uninspiring opening had defences on top until a bad error from Dan Potter, dropping a simple pass on his own 20, led to the Lions breaking the deadlock on 15 minutes as Lee Marsh ploughed over.

Thus began an awful eight-minute spell which put Swinton in control at 18-0 as dangerous full-back Wayne English and centre Lee Patterson (not York's Lee Paterson) scored two more converted tries, with Ian Watson then missing a simple drop goal for the Lions to turn the screw.

Worrying though it looked, the introduction of Lee Jackson brought the Knights new impetus, and their first real attack of note - after half an hour - ended with Neil Law, on the wing in place of the crocked Peter Fox, touching down a bomb from Paul Thorman, who had been preferred at scrum-half to Chris Levy.

The try lifted home spirits and they stayed on top for the rest of the half but without closing the gap further, Paterson and Calvin Watson being just held up.

York pressure continued at the start of the second half and, after John Smith was held short and Watson dropped a difficult short pass close to the line, Mark Cain scored a wonderful individual try, Thorman's second conversion making it 18-12.

Swinton, after that eight-minute spell, had gone off the boil. However, with the next score looking crucial, they slowly won back territory and increased the lead with a disputed Lee Gardner try on the hour.

York were nevertheless still in the game - but then came a huge self-inflicted blow.

The inexperienced Watson, forced to play on the wing due to injuries, was dragged into his own in-goal area from acting-half and lost the ball, Mick Coates pouncing.

Referee Craig Halloran deemed the dragging part of the tackle and let the try stand, with Marsh's fourth of five conversions making it 28-12.

York gave themselves a lifeline when Law superbly touched down a Rhodes grubber and they should have scored on the next attack when the excellent Ian Kirke broke on the blind side, but Watson could not take the pass with the line begging.

Watson's two mistakes at either end thus cost the Knights 12 potential points and, when a Scott Rhodes pass was picked off by Chris Maye, he charged 70 metres to put the final nail in the coffin.

Match facts

LHF Healthplan

National League

Monday, March 28, 2005

at Huntington Stadium

Knights 18, Swinton 34

Knights: Blaymire 6, Law 6, Potter 6, Kirke 8, C Watson 4, Rhodes 6, P Thorman 6, Smith 6, Elston 5, Sullivan 7, Callaghan 6, Friend 7, Liddell 6. Subs (not used): Jackson 7, Paterson 7, Cain 6, Buckenham 7.

Tries: Law 30, 70; Cain 46. Conversions: P Thorman 30, 46, 70. Penalties: None. Drop goals: None.

Sin-binned: None. Sent off: None.

Swinton: English, Oldham, Patterson, Maye, Billy, Coates, I Watson, Southern, Joseph, Rogers, Heaton, Sinfield, Marsh. Subs (all used): Ayres, Russell, Gardner, Whittaker.

Tries: Tries: Marsh 15; English 20; Paterson 23; Gardner 60; Coates 65; Maye 78. Conversions: Marsh 15, 20, 23, 65, 78. Penalties: None. Drop goals: None.

Sin-binned: None. Sent off: None.

Man of the match: Ian Kirke - more often used in the second row but yesterday switched to centre and matched several good surges in attack with a fine defensive effort.

HT: 6-18.

Referee: Craig Halloran (Batley). Rating: Tried to let the game flow and all things considered wasn't too bad.

Penalty count: 5-4.

Gamebreaker: Either one of two mistakes by Calvin Watson. On 65 minutes he was dragged into his in-goal area and lost the ball for Mick Coates to increase Swinton's lead to a probably unassailable 28-12. Then, after York gave themselves faint hope with a converted try, the inexperienced winger dropped the ball with the line begging when another six points would have made the finale interesting.

Attendance: 1,890.

Weather watch: Calm, quite nippy but pleasant.

Match rating: Developed into a good game after a solid opening, though the scoreline was obviously the wrong way.

Updated: 10:45 Tuesday, March 29, 2005