YORK City Knights head to the capital on Sunday in search of payback.

That was the opinion of fiery Knights star Darren Callaghan ahead of Sunday's trip to National League Two basement boys London Skolars.

Callaghan says the disappointing draw with the Skolars early in the league campaign still rankles with the players, and he reckons they will be fired up to secure a more impressive result at New River Stadium.

The Skolars were always expected to be the division's whipping boys in their first season in professional rugby, and so it has proved with that shock 16-16 draw at Huntington Stadium providing their only point of the campaign.

"We owe them a big one," Callaghan told the Evening Press. "We let ourselves down here drawing 16-all. We'll be going there with good preparation and hopefully it will be a good performance to show them how we can really play.

"The Skolars have proved to be the whipping boys and to draw at home with them when we are capable, like last Sunday, of beating the team at the top of the league, was not good. We were gutted with that result.

"We want to go away and pile a good score up against them."

Callaghan, who has missed only three games through injury this season, had started the four previous games on the bench and, although he played his part in those matches, he was grateful to get back in the starting line-up, albeit in a new position in the second row.

"I'm new to the second row but I've got used to it now," said the 26-year-old, who has also played centre and loose-forward this term. "I was happy to get a start and hopefully showed I can do it in that position.

"It gets to a point where you want a start and I thought on Sunday it went all right. In the second row you've got to work for each other and everyone in the team did it.

"Scott Rhodes had a magnificent game, he took them all on, but it was a great 17-man performance."

Acomb-based Callaghan, a York Acorn product who had two previous seasons at Huntington Stadium in between spells with Hull KR and Sheffield, rated the display highly.

"It's got to be our best win of the season. In fact it was one of the best games I've ever been involved in with York," he said.

"We started badly in the first ten or 15 minutes but we had the belief to come out and do it."

Updated: 10:45 Saturday, July 19, 2003