Batley look to continue their winning run with a trip to the York City Knights

Batley will look to keep their impressive start to the Betfred Championship season going on Sunday afternoon, as they travel to York looking to make it four away wins in a row.

The ‘Bulldogs’ had to work hard against Whitehaven last week, after they trailed 16-6 at half-time before a second-half comeback meant they eventually ran out 24-20 winners.

Tries from Michael Ward, Elliot Hall and Tom Lilycrop put the visitors into a 24-16 lead, before Andrew Bulman pulled a try back for the hosts to set up a tense finish, but Batley held on to take the two points back home to West Yorkshire and move up to fourth in the table.

Club captain James Brown was an absentee from the game, and coach Craig Lingard will be hoping he can return to the team quickly alongside star winger Jodie Broughton who also missed out on the trip to Cumbria.

York City Knights have had a mixed start to their league campaign so far, racking up four wins and five defeats, meaning they currently sit mid-table in 7th position.

Home form has been a clear issue for head coach James Ford’s team this season though, with three of those four wins all coming on the road, with their only home victory coming against Oldham.

Like Batley they do have some star names in the squad, former Warrington Wolves centre Ryan Atkins now plays at the club alongside ex Leeds forward Adam Cuthbertson, but they will need to bounce back from last week’s 30-6 defeat to Halifax. Full-back Matty Marsh got the solitary try, something they will have to improve on if they are wanting to get their second home win of the league this season.

Head-to-Head.

The last time the two teams met was back in 2019 in the Championship, where the scores ended level at 14-14.

Batley’s last win against York came in the same season in the Challenge Cup, where once again the scores were level at full-time, before Louis Jouffret slotted a drop-goal over in extra-time to give Batley a 17-16 victory.

York also managed to beat Batley in that 2019 season though in league action, and more importantly, that was a home win for the side, with current player Matty Marsh opening the scoring that day in the 28-24 win.

Follow us on Twitter @ProstInt