YORK City Knights have brought Brooke Broughton back to Huntington Stadium and have also recruited ex-Hull academy forward Ben Crane, with both poised to make their entrances in tonight’s under-20s match.

The club have suffered a triple blow, however, ahead of Sunday’s Kingstone Press Championship game at Leigh Centurions.

Back-in-form stand-off Simon Brown has been given a one-match ban, while dual-reg Hull forwards Dean Hadley and Liam Kent have both been withdrawn by their parent club after picking up knocks in the Knights’ win over Keighley ten days ago.

Broughton and Crane, both of whom play prop or second-row, are not in consideration for Sunday’s trip – despite the gaps in the pack created by the absence of Hadley and Kent – but they have come in search of first-team contracts for the rest of this season and 2014.

They will feature in tonight’s Under-20s Championship match at Rochdale, along with a third debutant in 17-year-old centre Adam Swift, whom U20s coach James Ford knows from Wakefield College.

Head coach Thornton said: “Brooke has been released by Doncaster and we’ve taken him on pay-as-you-play terms. He’s very quick for a big lad.

“He comes as a prop but I’m not sure that’s his best position and we’ll maybe use him in the back row.

“Things went a bit sour for him at Donny but he’s got an opportunity here to show what he can do for the rest of the season and earn a contract if he’s good enough. He’s not played for 11 weeks so will need a run with the U20s.

“Ben is ex-Hull but had a knee reconstruction and was out for a year. He’s trained with us for a few weeks and looked all right. He’ll be playing U20s (tonight) as well.”

The 22-year-old Broughton, originally a Leeds Rhinos product, played seven games for the Knights early in 2012 while on dual-registration from Warrington Wolves. He joined Doncaster last winter but has struggled for game time.

Crane, 21, has been a youth player with both Hull KR and Hull FC and was making strides in the under-21s at the KC Stadium before suffering a serious knee injury. He was recommended to the Knights by Lee Radford, Hull’s assistant boss and U19s coach.

Meanwhile, Brown has been suspended by Rugby Football League disciplinary chiefs for punching Keighley’s Ollie Pursglove during the Championship encounter at Huntington Stadium.

Both players had been yellow carded in the game for fighting.

Brown submitted an early guilty plea, though Pursglove faced no more disciplinary charges, with his sin-binning deemed sufficient as he threw no punches.

Thornton accepted Brown’s punishment but was unhappy Pursglove escaped further censure.

“I’m a bit annoyed because Ollie Pursglove was the instigator and got off with ‘sin-bin sufficient’,” he said.

“Simon Brown had been getting a bit of rough treatment all game and it got to him in that particular incident when Ollie Pursglove raced out of the line and raised his foream. But they (disciplinary panel) don’t take that into consideration as they just look at the isolated incident, and Simon did throw two punches.

“We’ll have Ben Johnston and Jonny Presley in the halves this weekend, though, and, while we’ll miss Simon Brown’s kicking game, especially on Leigh’s big, open pitch, that’s not been a bad combination for us.”

Tonight’s U20s game is at Rochdale Mayfield ARLC, kick off 7.45pm. Four overage players will be permitted after agreement between the clubs. The usual allowance is three. York’s quartet will be Ben Dent, Jack Iley, and newcomers Broughton and Crane.

Knights U20s (probable): Talbot, A Dent, Minikin, B Dent, Tomlinson, Morland, Green, Fitzsimmons, Carter, Crane, Parker, Craig, Iley, Batty, Swift, Robinson, Broughton.

• KNIGHTS supporters are running a coach to Sunday’s match at Leigh. It will leave the Ainsty pub at 11.30am, Clarence Street at 11.45am, and Huntington Stadium at noon. Seats cost £18 or £12 for under-16s. To book, phone 07763 121732.

The nearest train station to Leigh Sporting Village is Atherton. Visit www.tpexpress.co.uk for train times and prices.