Saltonstall secures victory for Knights

York had opened the scoring within the first minute as Ben Hardcastle ghosted through the Skolars’ defence, but the scores were soon level as Lamont Bryan stepped through to release Martyn Smith for the first of his brace of tries.

Ben Reynolds nudged York in front again with excellent support play after Lee Paterson’s break only for Kazeem Fatouri-Edwards to gather Bryant’s cut-out pass and plunge over the line.

York added three further tries to lead by 16 points at the break with Greg Minikin’s spectacular solo being the pick, scooping the ball up from a wayward pass before straightening, cutting inside and driving for the line.

Ed Smith burrowed over from acting half and Reynolds added his second after Josh Tonks’s quality pass but Skolars bounced back as Martyn Smith scrambled over the line.

Kriss Brinning dived over to restore York’s 16-point advantage but tries from Mufaro Mvududu and Fatouri-Edwards’s second of the game pulled the deficit back to four points.

With the game on a knife-edge, and the clock showing only two minutes remaining, Saltonstall pushed off successive players on a single-minded run for the try-line to a touchdown that secured a hard-fought victory.

York: Reynolds, Saltonstall, Craig, Minikin, B Dent, P Smith, Hardcastle, Brennan, Lee, Roche, Backhouse, E Smith, Paterson. Substitutes: Brining, Aldous, Bell, Tonks

London Sklars: Paxton, Greenhalgh, Fatouri-Edwards, Mvududu, Tuffour, Yates, Bryan, Pelo, M Smith, Sykes, Cox, Lovell, Williams Substitutes: Robinson, Purslow, Wellings, Druce.

Referee: D Sharpe (Manchester).