March brothers lead from the front as York City Knights win 36-6 at Workington in Co-operative Championship One

The Championship One game had been in the balance at 6-6 at half-time but, whereas Town continued to make errors, the Knights cut theirs down and simply had too much basic ability in attack – not least in the March brothers.

Scrum-half Paul hit the headlines with a hat-trick, but loose-forward David was similarly superb, setting a few up and causing the home defence headaches, not knowing whether to wrap the ball up to prevent an offload or prioritise halting him in his tracks.

No one would have guessed that Paul was sick on the bus to the game and David feared he had broken a bone in his wrist in the first half.

Both also did their bit in a splendid defensive effort teamwise, giving further evidence of how indispensable they are to the cause.

Furthermore, both kept their cool – aided by another good refereeing performance from Robert Hicks – especially David, who refused to take the bait a couple of times, most notably when Town second-row James Robinson kicked out at him on the floor, earning himself a red card just before the hour mark.

York were 18-6 up by then and three tries in the next eight minutes killed the game and saw the Knights top their 34-10 win at Derwent Park in the Northern Rail Cup in February.

York had made half a dozen changes from that team. The enforced ones included Danny Ekis – who began his six-match ban, with his two-match suspension for a dangerous tackle against Warrington followed by four matches for a similar incident at Keighley – and Richard Knight and Danny Ratcliffe, whose ankles failed fitness tests.

But it was a similar side to that which beat Rochdale 44-14 last time out, with Tom Haberecht coming back into the three- quarters in place of teenager Adam Jones, and with Carl Barrow and Jordan Ross deservedly keeping their spots in the second row, fellow back-rower Rob Kelly replaced Ekis on the bench after being rested against the Hornets.

Haberecht, who was also rested against Rochdale, came nearest to scoring in a cagey opening ten minutes, being held inches short on the last tackle.

But Workington quickly gained the advantage as Barrow was harshly sin-binned for a late challenge on kicker Steven Roper, Hicks acting on the advice of a touch judge.

That linesman also ruled out a John Oakes try, but it was a clear forward pass, and other penalty decisions meant the Knights kept possession for much of the time they were down to 12 men, having only one scare as winger Martyn Wilson flew down the wing before being brought down by the covering full-back Dave Clayton.

They made use of that possession, too, as Paul March opened the scoring with a good close-range finish after a Clayton kick had forced a repeat set in the danger zone.

Wayne McHugh added the extras on his way to six out of six conversions, but Barrow’s first act on returning to the fray was to give away another penalty – and field position – for lying on, and this time the 13 men couldn’t hold out as Jamie Marshall touched down in the corner, albeit from a suspiciously forward pass.

Carl Forber goaled well and Town all of a sudden looked a bigger threat.

Paul March did superbly to escape his in-goal area and avoid a dropout, but sub Chris Clough lost possession and Barrow again earned the referee’s wrath for a grapple tackle, all as Town got the upper hand.

Forber missed the kickable two-pointer, but the Knights – whose only other half-chance had been when winger McHugh felt he was going to be tackled into the flag and threw the ball away when he could have tried to touch down – needed to get back into the game.

They nearly did so with a fine drive and offload by Barrow, but Haberecht tried an over-ambitious scoring pass when York really needed to bank field position.

As it was, half-time came at a good time for the Knights and, although both sides began the second half inconsistently – good skills being ruined by poor skills, most notably when March lost the ball when trying to reach out to the line – York soon took command with a professional display.

The player-coach gave York the lead soon after when gliding through from a scrum, straightening up as a defender lost his footing.

The scrum came after Kelly forced an error, the second row having a typically solid second half after replacing Barrow.

Fellow sub Clough also had a decent game barring his earlier error and it was he who set up a try for another sub, Scott Woodcock, whose size, if not speed, got him to the line from ten metres.

The Knights then took the game away, aided by Robinson’s red card.

David March responded by throwing not a punch but a long, one-handed pass to send the unmarked John Oakes in at the corner.

Paul Hughes soon crossed after Haberecht streaked clear, and Paul March got his hat-trick when touching down a clever kick from his brother.

Match facts

Workington 6, Knights 36

Workington: Duffy, Wilson, Routledge, Mossop, Marshall, Forber, Roper, Stack, King, Whitehead, Robinson, Coupar, Hobson.

Subs (all used): Burgess, Benjafield, C Hodgson, Dobson.

Tries: Marshall 25

Conversions: Forber 25

Penalties: None.

Drop goals: None.

Sin-binned: None.

Sent off: Robinson 59.

Knights: Clayton 8, Oakes 7, Haberecht 7, M Mitchell 6, McHugh 7, Grimshaw 7, P March 8, Applegarth 7, Hughes 7, Sullivan 7, Barrow 5, Ross 7, D March 8.

Subs (all used): Hodgson 7, Clough 8, Kelly 7, Woodcock 7.

Tries: P March 19, 49, 68; Woodcock 53; Oakes 61; Hughes 63.

Conversions: McHugh 19, 49, 53, 61, 63, 68.

Penalties: None.

Drop goals: None.

Sin-binned: Barrow 10.

Sent off: None.

Man of the match: David March – brother Paul got a hat-trick in a superb display but the loose-forward did so much good work in defence and attack, despite a first-half hand injury, that he just pipped him for the accolade.

Referee: Robert Hicks (Oldham). Rating: good.

Penalty count: 8-6.

Weather: nice.

Half-time: 6-6.

Attendance: 520.

Gamebreaker: John Oakes’ try straight after Town had a man sent off around the hour mark made it 24-6.

Moment of the match: Paul March completing his hat-trick from David’s clever kick to cap a superb show from the twins.

Match rating: first half was a bit like pulling teeth, but the Knights did a professional job in the second to score five tries and nil the hosts.