Betfred Championship: York City Knights 16 Sheffield Eagles 24

Knights: Marsh 7, McGrath 6, Salter 8, Hey 6, Whiteley 8, Cockayne 7, C Robinson 6, Horne 6, Jubb 7, Teanby 8, Batchelor 6, Scott 8, Spears 7. Subs (all used): Brining 7, Ronan Dixon 8, Blagbrough 6, Porter 7.

Tries: Salter 38; Jubb 73; McGrath 76.

Conversions: Robinson 38, 73 (2/3).

Penalties: none.

Sent off: none.

Sin-binned: none.

Sheffield: Guzdek, Millar, Glover, Hellewell, Blackmore, Walker, Thackeray, James, Davey, Tagg-Knowles, Davies, Farrell, Brown. Subs (all used): Adebiyi, P Burns, Rory Dixon, Makelim.

Tries: Millar 28; Glover 57; Hellewell 63, 78.

Conversions: Walker 57, 63, 78 (3/4).

Penalty: Walker 75 (1/1).

Sent off: none.

Sin-binned: none.

Man of the match: Sam Scott – the second row, playing against his former club, was strong in the tackle and had impact with the ball too.

Referee: Jack Smith (Wigan) – sent two off and sin-binned four when reffing Sheffield last week (one red and three yellows for Dewsbury, Bradley Tagg-Knowles red and Joel Farrell yellow for the Eagles). There was no sign a card here but he came up with other big calls when ruling out three York tries.

Penalty count: 6-4

Half-time: 6-4

Weather: blustery and parky but dry.

Attendance: 1,822

Moment of the match: Liam Salter’s 38th-minute try was a rare expansive move with pace in an otherwise solid but unspectacular first half.

Gaffe of the match: There was a mistake in defence for at least three of Sheffield’s four tries – debutant Conor McGrath caught out of position for the first and big holes somehow appearing on the opposite side of the pitch for Ben Hellewell’s two tries both set up by Anthony Thackeray.

Gamebreaker: York had a second late sniff when Conor McGrath’s try cut the cap to two points with four minutes to go but Connor Robinson could not convert from wide out and, after the restart was allowed to bounce back Sheffield’s way, Ben Hellewell’s second stroll-through try sealed the away win.

Match rating: after so many highs so far this term, this was the point where the fun dropped off at Bootham Crescent. It was a good contest and there was late drama, but it lacked the effervescence of recent encounters – and of course the result is a downer.