By Stuart Copeland

YORK RUFC suffered another defeat at the hands of a former National 2 aide when they went down 32-9 at Preston Grasshoppers.

The fixture list has not been kind to York on their travels away from Clifton Park in their first season in North Premier. After a trip to Otley, York's visit to Lightfoot Green means they have played two of the favourites to go back up.

Among Grasshoppers' former players are Wade Dooley, Will Greenwood and Steve Borthwick.

There were a few changes for York. George Davies switched to full-back in place of the injured Liam Hessay, with his place in the centre being taken by Sam Forbes. In the forwards, Archie Fothergill moved to the back row in place of Joe Maud, who is still recovering from last week’s head injury. The unavailable Shane Goulding was replaced by Willem Enslin for his first appearance following his return from Harrogate.

York’s kick off was cleanly taken by the home team, who attacked left and quickly recycled right to give the wing Jacob Brown an unconverted try in the corner.

The visitors regrouped and, following midfield pressure, Declan Cusack put a kick to the wing that Sam Elliot just failed to gather.

As the referee was playing advantage for offside, York chose to kick to the corner rather than at the posts. The line out was cleanly taken and again the hosts were caught offside, this time under the posts. The points were taken, Cusack making the score 5-3.

York were soon on the attack and again Grasshoppers were caught offside. Second-row Luke Proctor was yellow-carded. Cusack added the points, giving York a 6-5 lead.

Grasshoppers got back on the front foot, resulting in York holding on inside their 22. Scrum-half Jake Squirrell kicked the goal. Under pressure, York were then lucky not to concede a try when a final pass did not go to hand.

As the half progressed, York came back into the game with Cusack pulling the strings. Twice Sam Elliot was thwarted on the left wing, first by the bounce of the ball and second by the corner flag.

The pressure resulted in another York penalty, which Cusack kicked to give York a narrow 9-8 lead approaching half-time.

But indiscipline and a low, no-arms tackle resulted in a penalty that culminated in a line out. Grasshoppers took the ball and looked to be aiming at scoring from a rolling maul. With defenders drawn in, the ball was released to the backs where inside centre Sam Stott broke to put his centre partner Matt Crow in close to the posts. Squirrell converted to give the home team a half-time lead.

It was a competitive first half with York well in the match. The forwards were all carrying well and Sam Forbes making strong runs from midfield. It appeared that York just needed to be more accurate in attack and the points would come. It was not to be.

The second half began the same as the first with a quick try by Grasshoppers full-back Alex Taylorson following forward pressure, converted by Squirrell.

The scrum half was immediately in the action again, finishing off an attack started by the impressive Sam Stott.

In very quick time the match had slipped away from York and matters only got worse when wing Rob Hodges fractured and dislocated an ankle going for the line.

Although York tried until the end, the strong Grasshoppers defence nullified all attempts to play their accustomed fast attacking game. The last score came from a rolling maul giving Grasshoppers a well-deserved 32-9 win.