York revival earns praise but victory is elusive

York 26 Hull Kingston Rovers 36

York could not quite celebrate the return of professional rugby league to the city with a win, but in every other respect their rebirth was a resounding success.

A crowd of over 3,000, compared with the few hundred who watched the York Wasps wither and die last season, saw Hull KR make sure of victory in this Arriva Trains Cup group match with three tries in the last 10 minutes. Before that, however, a York side which had never played together gave an excellent account of themselves.

"Half the lads didn't know each other when we came together, so to push a First Division side close on our first run out was a major plus,'' said the York captain, the former Rovers' front-row forward, Richie Hayes.

Their injured player-coach, Paul Broadbent felt that it was a good day that could easily have been so much better. "I'm a little disappointed, because I thought we did enough to win the game,'' he said. "The crowd was great and I hope we'll be able to give them something to really cheer.''

The game was a thriller in which the lead changed hands eight times. Craig Murdock's try gave Rovers the early advantage after an exchange of penalties, but Alex Godfrey's touchdown from Trevor Crause's clever cross-kick put the Knights back in front. The next two tries were also from well-weighted kicks, Jimmy Walker for Rovers and Darren Callaghan to give York a morale-boosting two-point lead at half-time.

Rovers looked to be taking control in the second half when Craig Poucher, who played in Super League for Hull last season, went over, followed by Walker's second, but York showed fought their way back to within two points through Scott Yeaman. Murdock's penalty nudged the visitors further ahead, but Chris Smith burrowed over and Graeme Hallas landed the conversion from the touchline to give York the advantage after Rovers' Mark Blanchard had been sent to the sin bin.

It was too good to last as Rovers finished strongly, with Jon Aston forcing his way over and Craig Farrell racing in straight from the kick-off. Steve Cochran's last-minute try gave Rovers a flattering margin of victory, but York had done enough to show that there is substance to their revival.

Steve Linnane, the Rovers coach, paid tribute to York's effort. "We always expected this to be a very tough game,'' he said. "They have obviously done a lot of good work here.''

York: Beaver, Godfrey, Hallas, C Smith, Molloy, Cain, Krause, Bolus, Jackson, Hayes, Ramsden, S Fletcher, Callaghan. Substitutes used: Yeaman, Lloyd, Stannard, Kennedy.

Hull Kingston Rovers: Poucher, Pinkney, Parker, Farrell, McClarron, Walker, Murdock, Wilson, Pickering, Bovill, Sullivan, Aston, A Smith. Substitutes used: Blanchard, Andrews, Cochran, P Fletcher.

Referee: S Presley (Castleford).