York City Knights 36 Rochdale Hornets 34: Hornets stage late rally but Knights hold steady

York were in total control during the first 40 minutes. Winger Tom Lineham opened the scoring with a pacy run from his own 25-metre line and Danny Wilson finished an excellent cross-field powerplay after the Knights opted to run the ball on the sixth tackle.

Hornets livewire hooker Phil Wood was extensively involved in attack and his kick was touched down by Danny Samuel only for Jack Lee, on loan from Featherstone, to twist in the tackle and restore the York lead.

Kris Peacock added further points for the Knights as he burst the defence to score but again Hornets hit back just before the break through Adam Bowman

Joe Mclocklan burst a poor tackle for Richard Blakeway to score and with York leading by 20 points the game seemed over. But after assistant coach Chris Thorman left the field, the Knights organisation fell apart.

Quick hands from Phil Wood and Craig Ashall set-up a Hornets power-play for Chris Hough to score before Ashall personally added another try after excellent work from Wayne English.

Luke Hardbottle crashed over to score for the Knights and despite further tries from English and Wood, York held on.

York City Knights: Ratcliffe, Reittie, Wilson, Waterman, Lineham, Thorman, McLocklan, Applegarth, Stamp, Freer, Peacock, Blakeway, Lee Substitutes: Ross, Hardbottle, Lewis, Stearman.

Rochdale: English, Gorton, Smith, Ashall, Johnson, Bloomfield, Powell, Samuel, Wood, Rafferty, Bowman, Hayes, Hough Substitutes: Cocker, Cookson, Tunstead, Crook.

Referee: D Merrick (Castleford).