Nick Wright previews this weekend's clash between York City Knights and Hull FC
Alex Reid looks at whether the once ever-present appearance of English clubs in the later stages of the Champions League is set to become a thing of the past
Craig Dobson looks at QPR's decision to sack Neil Warnock and replace him with Mark Hughes
James Tompkinson reviews an excellent pre-season victory for the York City Knights against Yorkshire rivals Leeds Rhinos
As the season approaches its climax the York vs. Northumbria game could be viewed as a title decider with both teams well placed for a promotion push. York’s preparation for the crunch match could not have been more disrupted, with only one game played this term, very few college games to keep players fit and minimal to no training due to the weather conditions. The pre match build up was less than ideal with several player drop outs and a long journey north, arriving over 2 hours before kickoff due to the lacrosse team sharing the bus.
The match itself started late as the referee was poached by a national league women’s team leaving York out on a windswept pitch training and ball juggling to keep concentration. With all the mitigating circumstances in mind York’s performance can still only be described as lack lustre and wasteful. York started the brighter of the two sides attacking straight from kickoff and forcing a good block and a corner; the match quickly settled into a pattern of York dominating possession, looking eminently comfortable at the back but doing nothing with the ball.
Northumbria in contrast made the most of what little ball they could keep hold of and utilising the pace of their forwards and wingers looked to spring the offside trap on numerous occasions only to be thwarted by a well organised York defence and the pace of sweeper Jabarkhyl.
Despite York having the better of the half, hitting the bar and being denied a penalty in the latter stages, it was Northumbria who took a 1-0 lead into the 2nd half. Again York struggled to convert possession into chances and despite some decent saves from ‘keeper Clitheroe Northumbria doubled their lead with a dubious offside goal. The second goal seemed to rock York and their play degenerated into scrappy, disjointed moves with the majority of attacking passes going astray. Captain Richards attempted to rally his side, his words and battling performance shook some life into York with Dan Cox and Jack Crane forcing two stunning saves from the Northumbria ‘keeper.
York came within inches of scoring when front man Cooper, put through on goal, went past the goalkeeper only to be tackled before he could slot home. The miss coupled with Northumbria’s third goal spelt the end of the game as a contest and while the fourth goal greatly flattered the hosts it did not come as a great surprise.
The defeat greatly dents York’s hopes of promotion and the nature of the loss to an average Northumbria side is cause for concern. That being said the evidence in training shows that York will bounce back strongly from this setback and keep battling for the mathematical possibility of promotion and for the pride of the club.
TEAM: Cliteroe, Worrall, Grayland, Jabarkhyl, Crane, Remington, Richards, Molyneux, Johnson (Smith 70), Cooper, Cox
MOM: Jabarkhyl
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