York City Knights beaten 40-4 by promotion chasers Leigh

York could perhaps count themselves as unfortunate to trail at half time as a competitive opening period was edged 6-4 by Leigh.

The stark difference in both Betfred Super League and NRL experience as well as the contrasting full-time and part-time statuses of the two clubs showed during the second half though.

York were down to 12 men for a quarter of the last 40 minutes and were also victims of producing too many individual errors in possession.

Combined to that, the Centurions found their groove in attack and playmaker Joe Mellor in particular ran the show.

In total, Leigh ran in six unanswered tries and underlined just why so many pundits are predicting them to secure an immediate return to the top-flight this year.

The Knights will rue the mistakes they made after the restart but should also appreciate that the much-talked gap between Featherstone Rovers and Leigh and the rest appears to be bearing true.

This was a York side at almost full strength, with just two changes from the side that edged past Batley Bulldogs last time out.

Castleford Tigers loanee James Clare replaced Jack Logan at centre while Liam Harris made a welcome return at half-back.

Myles Harrison dropped out of the starting 17, with Matty Marsh reverting to full-back.

Like at the meeting at Mount Pleasant, the wet weather conditions meant that first-half points were always likely to be at a premium.

And so it proved in a first half in which very little separated the two sides and just one try was registered.

Leigh were the first on the scoreboard as, on the back of a handful of penalties, they wisely chose to kick for goal through Reynolds.

York head coach James Ford praised his side’s character in the win at Batley and that was on show throughout, but particularly in Will Jubb’s ball win on the back of Jamie Ellis’ potentially demoralising kick dead.

With two recognised half-backs on the field, the Knights attack looked far strong in the first period.

The returning Harris almost teed up Ellis through a grubber kick, only to be denied by a last-ditch Caleb Aekins tackle.

There was no stopping York on Harris’ next kick forward as he forced an error from a Leigh defender near the line and Jubb pounced on the loose ball.

Ellis missed the resulting conversion and then a subsequent penalty goal effort, both of which the former Leigh man will have been disappointed by.

Having been on the end of some refereeing decisions early on, the penalty count soon swung in Leigh’s favour, much to the frustration of the home fans.

Before half time, Reynolds added two more goals to the Centurions tally to give his side a narrow 6-4 lead at half time.

Having not conceded a try in the opening 40 minutes and been arguably the better side, there was plenty of positives ahead of the second period.

Unfortunately, any sense of optimism quickly faded as Leigh seemed to replicate the stirring second-half performance they showed earlier in the week against Bradford Bulls.

As the rain deceased, Leigh had the advantage in territory during the early stages and quickly capitalised.

St Helens loanee Jake Wingfield put fellow forward Sam Stone through a gap on the right for Leigh’s first four-pointer. Reynolds added the first of five conversions from six attempts.

From the restart, York were reduced to 12 men when Clare saw a yellow card for a high tackle.

It did not take long for the Centurions to make the most of their numerical advantage with Mellor - Leigh’s stand-out player - grubber-kicking against the posts and seeing the ball land in the grasp of Reynolds.

Minutes later, Leigh thought that they had scored practically the same try, with Mellor kicking for Reynolds to ground, only to see the latter called offside.

As the rampant Leigh hunted for more points, the visitors then broke down the York left flank and Keanan Brand crossed in the corner.

The pass from Ed Chamberlain was called as forward in a major let off for York.

By this point even the return of Clare to the field could not stop the dominance of Leigh, despite York’s best efforts.

When Ellis dropped the ball in his own half, Wingfield and Edwin Ipape were held up before Aekins finished off a sharp shift to the corner.

Perhaps understandably given the wet conditions, errors were being produced, but mainly by York.

Harris was the next to cheaply give up the ball, allowing Mellor to kick through for another Reynolds try.

A couple of minutes later, York conceded again and once more it the irresistible Mellor who created it, grubbering through for a Chamberlain try.

In the dying stages, it looked as if York would be able to conjure one late chance when Ellis put Brand into touch and the Knights then won a repeat set.

However Pauli Pauli offloaded to Mellor rather than any of his team-mates and the opportunity went begging.

Instead, Leigh managed to reach the 40-point mark late on when Mellor grabbed a deserved solo try, chipping past full-back Marsh before dotting down.

York: Marsh, Brown, Glover, Clare, Oakes, Harris, Ellis, Matongo, Jubb, Michael, Clarkson, Kirmond, Thompson.

Subs (all used): Teanby, Pauli, Davis, Dixon.

Tries: Jubb (23)

Goals: Ellis (0/2)

Yellow cards: Clare (48)

York’s star man: Will Jubb. Strong in defence and scored York’s only try.

Leigh: Aekins, Hitchcox, Chamberlain, Macdonald, Brand, Reynolds, Mellor, Sidlow, Hingano, Ioane, Nisbet, Stone, Amone.

Subs (all used): Norman, Wingfield, Ipape, Jones.

Tries: Stone (47), Reynolds (51, 65), Aekins (59), Chamberlain (69), Mellor (78)

Goals: Reynolds (8/9)

Referee: Jack Smith

Attendance: 2,069