CHRIS THORMAN was delighted with York City Knights’ improvement but could not hide his disappointment after seeing a share of the spoils stolen from them at the death.

The Knights lost 24-18 to 2010 champions Halifax yesterday after visiting hooker Sean Penkywicz scored the winning try with the last play of the game, five minutes after Alex Benson had seemingly forced a draw with the equaliser at the other end.

Nonetheless, Thorman’s men were markedly better than in the defeat at Dewsbury seven days earlier, fighting back from a worryingly error-strewn opening and a 12-0 deficit, and claiming a bonus point.

Said the player-boss: “I just wanted improvement and a positive reaction after last week, and we got that.

“Saying that, to concede the decisive try on the last play of the game is so disappointing.

“We should not be disappointed but we are.

“We did enough to earn something from the game, but the manner in which we conceded the game was disappointing.”

Thorman made a notable change to the line-up, switching Jordan Tansey to full-back and effectively playing as a lone half-back, with both Tansey and Ben Hellewell, who had been moved from full-back, running off him. Hellewell defended in the centres in Tansey’s previous stead.

Thorman said: “I wanted to take a little bit of responsibility off him (Tansey) defensively, and Ben Hellewell was great defensively out there. I wanted to get my hands on the ball as much as possible and to free them both up a bit. It’s very much a work in progress.

“We felt it was necessary to change it a bit and I felt it worked at times. We were more threatening with the ball compared to last week. Defensively we were better. We were much better in contact and when we did make errors the scrambling defence was good.”

One other change saw play-maker Brett Turner come onto the bench in place of outside-back George Elliott, being used as a substitute hooker in the second half and setting up Benson’s try.

Thorman added: “Brett was good when he came on – it was just what we needed. We expect a lot from Jack Lee (at hooker) and he plays big minutes. It was nice to get a different style of play in there and Brett showed great composure to set Benno up for his try.

“There were lots of positives to take out of it.”

Halifax have hopes of pushing for the title this year under new coach Karl Harrison, and he had praise for his hosts yesterday, albeit while claiming his side had more than enough chances to win the game before Penkywicz’s decisive act.

He said: “We’re capable of cracking defences and I thought we created loads of chances, probably enough to win three games.

“But you’ve got to give York credit. Chris Thorman led them really well and their forward pack asked loads of questions of our defence. This is a tough level, and anybody can beat anybody on their day.”

• Knights Academy player Sean Carmody scored a try and kicked two goals as Ireland ‘A’ were beaten 38-20 by hosts the United States in the Donnybrook Cup.