'Ouse' laughing now?

Hornets stumble to stubborn Knights

It was a day of contrasting emotions. The happy victors already relegated; the peed-off losers eyeing the challenge of playoff football.

And neutrals may have struggled to tell who was who.

A sloppy first half hour comprising lax ball control and shoddy tackling ultimately gifted York this game. Indeed, York failed to cross the line again after Potter's 29th minute try and, with both sides contributing three converted tries, the only difference between the sides was three Thorman penalties.

While Hornets deserve great credit for clawing thenselves back into this contest, they'll rue the shaky start that saw the vociferous travelling support wait almost 20 minutes for their team to complete five tackles and a kick.

Hornets were all at sea after just four minutes; Rhodes spinning through flapping tackles to score. On 15 minutes, Hornets were under the cosh again. An attempted 5th tackle clearing kick by Phil Hasty was charged down and Sullivan took the resulting pass from Rhodes to stroll under the black dot.

Thorman added a penalty after referee Dawber imagined a high tackle and, on the next foray into Hornets' half Fox and Potter stacked up two-on-one on Chris Giles; Potter's try was improved by Thorman and Hornets were 20-nil adrift.

Hornets did rally briefly before half time: Paul Norman crashing onto a short ball close to the York line to give Hornets a distant sniff of the game at 20-6.

Hornets began the second half in determined fashion. Taking the ball in harder and adding more steel to the tackles Hornets gradually established physical dominance. On 50 minutes, Richard Varkulis ran the ball hard at the York defence; Firth whipped the ball right and Matt Sturm showed good balance to score out wide. Kevin King converted superbly into the wind from the touchline.

Thorman stretched York's lead after Helme appeared to drop the ball cold in the tackle; Mr Dawber gave 'raking' and awarded a penalty.

Hornets hit straight back. Just past the hour, Hornets moved the ball, again, through York's left centre channel. This time it was Paul Anderson who smuggled the pass out of the tackle for Ian Gordon to score. Kev King repeated his touchline kicking trick and HHornets were within four points at 22-18.

Out on their feet, York resorted to an aerial bombardment; Rhodes repeatedly launching spiralling bombs into the swirling wind. On defence, Ian Gordon and Chris Giles responded superbly, winning the battle under very close attention and returning the kicks with interest.

Hornets pressed for the crucial score, but it didn't come. Increasingly speculative as the clock ticked down, passes were forced, options were ignored and execution was hurried. York were happy to soak up the pressure and, when Mr Dawber gave a riduiculous penalty for interference at the play the ball with no Hornets player within six feet, Thorman sealed the game.

And that was that. York fans celebrated like they'd won the cup, but it was the sound of the band playing as the ship goes down. The Hornets fans sang their side from the field knowing that victory next week against Batley will secure 5th place and at least one more away trip in the playoffs.

Leaving the ground, one Hornets fan said: "Watching this team is like a rollercoaster - but not season to season or even week to week: it's minute to minute sometimes." And it's true Rugby league can be a very funy game.

He who laughs last? Perhaps this switchback season has one hell of a punchline to come.