Re: York City Knights v Hull KR - Fri 15th Jan, 8pm : Fri Jan 15, 2010 11:52 pm
off yorks fan site YCK 28 Hull Kingston Rovers 6
Att 444
Ratcliffe; Rettie; Mitchell; Waterman; Stancliffe; Thorman; Schofield; Benson; McLocklan; Freer; Ross; Hill; Blakeway
Subs;Bromilow ;Peacock ;Waller; Applegarth; Clough; Wilson; Clarke; Helliwell.
Everitt; Bowering; Nick Powley; Wilson; Snowden; Hardcastle; Gay; Green; Nat Powley;Dee; Charlton; Johnson; Peterson.
Subs; Ollett; Salter; Moore; Gibb; Richardson; Sherriff
Referee. Robert Hicks (Oldham).
On a murky old night and on a pitch that looked pretty firm given the recent weather, the Knights turned out what looked like a reasonably first choice line-up.
Hull KR, with a bigger friendly in mind, turned out a mix of Reserves and Academy players in a surreal situation as the very creditable pitch clearing exercise had produced a 'Snow Stonehenge' around the pitch perimeter.
After five minutes Big Joe McLocklan was held up over the KR line countered by the visitors prop Dominic Dee achieving the same a minute or two later.
The Knights away shirts are adorned by white numbering which are great if you are five yards away and eat lots of carrots but, I fear, that the use of them at Rochdale will have certain Radio York commentator polishing his specs ( You'll love 'em John !! ).
Nathan Freer and Alex Benson were working hard to provide the backs a useful platform with Lee Waterman, in particular, very industrious behind them.
Ben Hardcastle put in a lovely 40-20 after 16 minutes to set up field position for KR but this was wasted by a scruffy handling error.
The Knights worked their way down the pitch and a clever series of passes involving Chris Thorman and Danny Hill saw Danny Ratcliffe pop up in support to jink over the line. Lee Waterman potted the conversion 6-0.
An error from the restart in defence by the home side was redressed by a powerful surge from Hill getting the Knights back to halfway.
On 25 minutes Jonny Scofield found some space out left and found Lee Waterman, whose strength allowed him to hold off defenders and supply Schofield with a fine return pass, the youngster scooting over 10-0
Once more the Knights spilled the restart kick but despite the prompting of Hardcastle and Gay, Hull KR did not have the guile or impetus to breach a hard working home defence.
Peering into the foggy gloom did not help Wayne Rettie who spilled a Hardcastle bomb but the Knights escaped again.
The introduction of Brett Waller warmed the crods hands as he drew applause for two storming charges upfield and, if he can continue to run hard onto the ball, he will cause havoc among opposing defences.
For the visitors, the introduction of prop Gareth Moore ( not that one ) stiffened their resistance but not enough to take advantage of two quickfire penalties for York being offside.
As the hooter went Hardcastle ran into a belting Knights tackle and looked seriously injured but happily trotted off after some attention.
