THERE is a new joint-leader of The Press Player of the Year table after the up-and-down month of April.

The Knights' three outings brought an awful defeat at Oxford, a wonderful win over Doncaster and, lastly, that Challenge Cup controversy against Barrow.

Tim Spears was a leading performer in our eyes in two of the games - against Oxford and the Dons - and the player of the year points he picked up took to the summit alongside reigning Player of the Year Ed Smith.

The less said about the Oxford game the better, but the points winners that day were man-of-the-match Kieran Moran (3pts), Harry Carter (2pts) and Spears (1pt).

The turnaround in form for the Donny clash was marked, most notably in and defensive determination and mental grit, and the effort across the board made it difficult to pick out the men of the match. The nods, though, went to full-back Ash Robson (3pts), Spears (2pts) and skipper Smith (1pt).

James Ford's men continued that form for the cup clash with unbeaten Barrow and only controversial refereeing calls in the last quarter denied the luckless Knights a likely win.

Chris Siddons (3pts) was our star man for a mighty 70-minute effort against the Raiders' prominent pack, while James Haynes (2pts) was only denied a match-winning hat-trick by poor officiating and Joe Porter (1pt) regularly lifted the team with his infectious enthusiasm having started in the second row in place of the crocked Smith.

Porter remains right up their in leaderboard in his first season at semi-pro level after his switch from York Acorn.

Press Player of the Year standings: E Smith 8, Spears 8, Robinson 7, Porter 6, Robson 5, Batchelor 4, Hey 3, H Tyson-Wilson 3, Moran 3, Siddons 3, Carter 2, Haynes 2, Ellis 1, Presley 1, Harris 1.

It is also Press Player of the Month time.

Get your votes in by emailing peter.martini@thepress.co.uk. The matches to consider are those mentioned above - away at Oxford, at home to Doncaster and the cup clash with Barrow.

The winner of the April award gets a bonus three points for his Player of the Year tally.