ANYONE who follows football as well as rugby around these parts will have noticed a young lad by the name of Ben Godfrey hitting headlines over at Bootham Crescent.

The 17-year-old former Archbishop Holgate School pupil made his first-team debut for York City on Tuesday night and played his part as they got off the mark in League Two with 1-0 victory over Yeovil.

Well, he happens to be the son of former York City Knights favourite Alex Godfrey, and he was quick to put his burgeoning success down at least in part to tips from the old man.

“My dad obviously wasn’t in the football industry and he wasn’t really into football when he was a youngster but he makes sure I get the basics right in terms of hydration and things like that.

"He also know the fundamentals of what it takes to make it (as a professional sportsman) and he’s helped me out a lot.”

Godfrey senior, a tutor at York College, starred for York Wasps in 1998 with nine tries in 19 appearances as the team finished second in the old Second Division, and he later bagged 33 tries in 45 matches over two spells with the Knights - including having the honour of scoring the resurrected club's first-ever touchdown in their maiden match, against Hull KR.

He called it a day - some would say prematurely - at the end of 2007, aged 29, after a career which also included successful spells at Dewsbury and Hull KR.

Godfrey junior, City's youth-team captain, who also who skippered York under-13s to an historic English Schools FA Trophy back in 2011, was notably a vocal presence on the Bootham Crescent pitch on Tuesday, pointing and cajoling, despite being a teenage novice surrounded by senior pros.

Anyone who watched his dad play - at times displaying a crowd-pleasing confidence which bordered on cockiness - might be able to guess where he gets that side of his character from.

THURSDAY night's match against North Wales Crusaders brought back memories of another magical comeback which ended up being painfully in vain.

Last May, the Knights were left shell-shocked as they fell 27-0 down at Oldham inside half an hour of the clash at Whitebank, leaving Gary Thornton's side staring at humiliation.

However, then came an amazing turnaround, not unlike James Ford's team's on Thursday, which saw the Knights go 30-27 ahead with 15 minutes to go - despite missing six of seven conversion attempts.

But again, not unlike Thursday, they then fell to a sucker punch - on this occasion the Roughyeds scoring a match-winning try with three minutes to go in a rare second-half attack.

Had the Knights won either that game or this most recent one, the fight-back would have arguably matched the efforts of Mick Cook's famous comeback kings of 2005, the year they won the National League Two title.

The most memorable probably came away at Keighley, Dewsbury and Hunslet.

The former was arguably former Player of the Year Adam Sullivan's finest day in a York shirt when he repeatedly smashed his way through the home ranks at Cougar Park as the Knights turned a 31-12 deficit into a 42-31 triumph, courtesy of six tries in 18 mesmeric minutes.

He seemed "intent at going on the rampage at every opportunity," wrote the Evening Press back then, one such stampede being halted by a high tackle by - and red card for - home full-back Matt Bramald, which brought new impetus to York hopes.

That result kick-started the team's march to the title after a stop-start opening to the season, while the result at title rivals Dewsbury underlined their credentials and the one at Hunslet sealed the success.

Having dispatched the Rams 74-12 in a freakish walloping earlier in the season, Cook's men trailed 14-0 in the return but fought back and snatched the spoils with a stoppage-time Dan Potter try in probably the game of the season.

Then came the big one at Hunslet that saw them fight back from 22-0 down to their arch-rivals to win 24-22 courtesy of a late penalty by Lee Paterson - the regular goal-kickers having been off injured after a bruising encounter.

Happy days.

THURSDAY'S match, decided by a late penalty awarded by Chris Leatherbarrow, also brought back memories of two similar controversial finishes in which the St Helens whistleblower found himself centre-stage.

They both occurred in 2013, both against Barrow.

The first saw the Raiders win at home with a try after the final hooter - when Leatherbarrow did not blow for an apparent knock-on at the final play-the-ball.

The second saw the Raiders win a televised thriller at Huntington Stadium this time courtesy of a penalty after the final hooter, Leatherbarrow deeming Dean Hadley offside as he closed down a drop goal attempt on the final play.

Just like on Thursday, whether it was right or wrong to blow his whistle, it was a very big, match-deciding call.

No so happy days.

ANYONE spot Micky Learmonth sporting a black eye on Thursday night?

Apparently the 20-year-old is a well-regarded boxer in his spare time, with calls in some quarters for him to turn professional in that sport, and he got his shiner during a sparring session in the ring.

It was Learmonth who was pinged by referee Leatherbarrow at the end of Thursday night's game for allegedly pulling the leg of a North Wales tackler at a play-the-ball. However, given his reputation as an aggressive pugilist, it might be prudent to minimise any criticism coming his way, even if it was a silly and costly foul.