Newcastle Thunder hold off late Knights comeback in York to make it three wins in last four

Eamon O’Carroll’s Newcastle Thunder held on at the LNER stadium to claim a narrow 28-26 away win despite the second half efforts of York City Knights, who have now lost their last five.

Newcastle found life difficult to begin with upon their return to the Betfred Championship at the start of this campaign, managing just one win in six following their opening day draw with Widnes. However, they were able to steer themselves clear of any danger with victories over both relegation threatened Swinton Lions and Oldham Roughyeds. Last time out however, they were dominated by a rampant Featherstone Rovers outfit.

Contrastingly, York have had an opposite experience so far this season, starting strongly with four wins in six (including a big win away at Widnes) before falling away after four straight defeats. Before their home clash with Thunder, that run had seen them drop out of the play-off spots, and though the Knights do have a trip to Wembley to look forward to soon for the 1895 cup final, points were and are needed again in the league.

This game posed an opportunity for both sides to pull clear of the relegation zone whilst also hauling themselves into the upper echelons of mid table, with Widnes currently setting the pace for the ‘best of the rest’. 

Lineups:

York City Knights: Kieran Dixon, Perry Whiteley, Liam Salter, Ryan Atkins, Jason Bass, Ben Jones-Bishop, Chris Clarkson, James Green, Will Jubb, Jack Teanby, Sam Scott, Danny Kirmond, Tim Spears 

Interchanges: Danny Washbrook, Marcus Stock, Joe Porter, Ronan Dixon 

Head Coach: James Ford 

Newcastle Thunder: Alex Donaghy, Jack Johnson, Sam Halsall, Matty Wright, Alex Clegg, Josh Woods, Jake Shorrocks, Kyle Trout, Connor Bailey, Ukuma Ta’ai, Ted Chapelhow, Evan Simons, Nathan Wilde 

Interchanges: Jay Chapelhow, Owen Harrison, Jake Anderson, Cole Oakley 

Head Coach: Eamon O’Carroll

Fine margins have been a common theme in a lot of York’s defeats, and perhaps that was the thinking behind taking the option of kicking for goal with an early penalty in a good position. Such decisions can ultimately win matches, but can also come back to bite you, and it’s fair to say that the rest of the first half proved that.

Newcastle responded soon after the successful conversion with the first try of the match. Full back Alex Donaghy took the ball well and carried it on a tremendous run backed with a brutal carry from former Huddersfield Giants man Ukuma Ta’ai who broke the line and allowed Thunder to shift the ball to Jake Sharrocks. Sharrocks was seemingly held up on the line but somehow managed to scramble the ball down and give the visitors the lead under pressure.

Josh Woods’ first conversion of the afternoon had Newcastle 6-2 to the good, and that remained the same for the majority of the first half, which became a scrappy affair. Thunder may think themselves lucky that Ted Chapelhow stayed on the pitch as he seemed to rake the face of York’s Marcus Stock during a tackle. The Knights’ Danny Washbrook took exception to this and inevitable handbags ensued, but no further action was taken by the referee when everything had simmered down fortunately for the visitors at the new LNER stadium.

Two minutes before half time though, Thunder managed to get themselves over the tryline again and ensured that they were in the ascendancy at the interval. It had looked as though York had done enough to prevent the visitors from extending their lead as they held up Alex Donaghy, but Ta’ai’s strength shone through again eventually. The Tongan ploughed his way through three attempted tackles before being brought down and the defenders had been drawn in hook, line and sinker.

Newcastle recycled the ball quickly, and a cute short pass on the inside from Evan Simons allowed Owen Harrison to power over the line. Once again, a successful conversion from Woods and at the interval, O’Carroll’s men were 12-2 in front.

Having got that distance on the scoreboard, the half time break did little to stem their momentum and Simons went over for a third try just moments into the second half, capitalising on some shaky defending from York’s Kieran Dixon letting the ball bounce. Alex Clegg then scored a sensational individual try moments later to further punish the Knights. An academy graduate at Newcastle, Clegg took the ball on the halfway line and used his pace to breeze past Liam Salter before selling the York full back a dummy and diving in at the corner.

Just five minutes into the second half, Thunder had a dominant 22-2 lead and the game seemed to be done and dusted but York weren’t prepared to give up the chase just yet and managed to haul themselves back into the game through Ryan Atkins after some good work by Ben Jones-Bishop to breach the defensive line and send the visitors’ defence scrambling. Kieran Dixon’s kick wasn’t dealt with and former Warrington Wolves man Atkins touched the ball down for what was York’s first try of the game.

It would have been fair to say that York needed a bit of the ‘rub of the green’ to get back into this game, and that’s exactly what they got just two minutes after that first try, allowing them to go on and get a second. A rather contentious call went the way of the home side when Atkin seemed to have lost the ball in the contact, but an illegal strip was called against Newcastle. Danny Washbrook then delivered an inch-perfect long pass to Chris Clarkson, who had the wherewithal to step inside of the retreating Newcastle defenders and get himself over the line to score. 14-22 in favour of the visitors.

Throughout the second half, York were able to build up a considerable level of momentum and the comeback started to look more and more likely. Danny Kirmond barraged his way over the line but was somehow held up by the Newcastle defence though this didn’t disparage the Knights and a comeback really did look to be on when Sam Scott benefited from an incredibly fortuitous bounce off his team mate to go over and bring the hosts to within one score with just under 20 minutes remaining.

Momentum is a very real entity in sport, and when any athlete or team gains momentum against you, it can be very difficult to stop. Newcastle were able to do just that however, as they stopped the ‘rot’ with a try of their own once again through Clegg. It was a really disappointing turnover from a York perspective, and once again an Ukuma Ta’ai carry that caused the Knights serious problems. Connor Bailey did tremendously well to pick a loose pass up from before poking the ball through to Clegg who went over and claimed his brace. Crucially, this made it a two score game heading into the final ten minutes of play. 20-28 

York again weren’t prepared to give in though and created a barrage of pressure on the opposition’s try line to try and force another opening in the game. Thunder did well to hold out until the 77th minute when Perry Whiteley gave the hosts a glimmer of hope as he dove acrobatically over in the corner off the back of Dixon’s kick. Further accuracy from the boot of Dixon on the conversion meant that a penalty kick would level the scores, and a try would surely give the Knights the win. 

Sadly for the majority of the fans at the LNER Community Stadium, York had left it just too late to earn anything from the game and as the final hooter sounded, Thunder claimed the two points by a scoreline of 26-28. Consequently, the Knights fell to their fifth conesuctive league defeat now just two weeks away from their date with high flying Featherstone at Wembley in the 1895 cup final.

Analysis

The hosts were really slow out of the blocks, and lacked creativity or conviction with their first half sets. The two tries just after half-time really hurt them, and it was always going to be an uphill task from there. They showed great character to bring themselves back into the game, but head coach James Ford will be furious that they let themselves get into that position.

As for the Thunder, they were outplaying York in every department for 50 minutes, and while they were found hanging on towards the end, it was impressive that they were able to dismantle the Knights side and claim a third win in four. 

Big moments can change games, and York’s decision to kick for goal early in the game, getting the first points on the board, may well have been a poor one in hindsight which is a wonderful thing. Had they kept the pressure up and got a try from that set, then the entire outcome of the game could have been different. 

Five straight defeats now for York, which will certainly be concerning for Ford, not least with Featherstone hammering teams consistently. Serious improvements will need to be made if they are to challenge in the 1895 cup final, not to mention if they want to avoid being dragged into a relegation battle in terms of league action. 

Thunder head coach Eamon O’Carroll may have reservations about the way his side let such a big lead get eaten up, but overall he’ll be delighted with his team’s efforts, particularly in the first 50 minutes. This win rockets them up to 8th in the Championship table, and they are now beginning to establish themselves as one of the form teams in the league. 

Next time out, O’Carroll’s men will be looking to make it four wins in five as they host the Dewsbury Rams at Kingston Park, while the Knights will make their way to London to take on a Broncos side licking their wounds after a pasting at the hands of the aforementioned Featherstone which resulted in the departure of boss Danny Ward.

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