York Knights 26-12 Widnes Vikings: Match Report
- sharonshortle
- 6 hours ago
- 2 min read
York Knights returned to winning ways in the Betfred Championship with a 26-12 win over Widnes Vikings at the LNER Community Stadium.
The Knights outscored the Vikings by five tries to two in what was a good team performance, characterised by some solid defence and entertaining tries.
With only one point between the sides in the league table before kick off, the victory takes York above their opponents and into sixth place.
It was a tight opening period, and almost a quarter of the game had gone before the first points. An incident was put on report when York’s Scott Galeano was tackled 10 metres out, and once play restarted, Liam Harris scooted his way through for a converted try.
Connor Bailey extended the lead, showing some great footwork after the Knights set up position on the back of a set with great ruck speed.
However, Widnes were still making good progress when in possession, and got off the mark when they swung the ball right for Mike Butt to squeeze in at the corner, despite attention from the York defence. Tom Gilmore’s conversion brought them to within four points.
York cancelled out that try with one of their own from Joe Brown after more pacy play and good hands in the face of the Widnes try line. Harris added the goal to take a 10 point lead into the break.
Again, points were hard to come by at the start of the second half, and Widnes put plenty of pressure on in the York 20. However, after a storming run from Kieron Hudson took York to within 10 metres of the Widnes line, a sublime Paul McShane pass found Ata Hingano who scampered through a huge gap to score.
It led to a spell where the momentum shifted back to York, but despite getting the better of the territory and possession, they couldn’t take advantage.
With eleven minutes to go, York forward, Jesse Dee was sin binned after a tip tackle on Liam Bent, reducing the Knights to 12 men.
With extra space out wide, Widnes moved the ball to Ryan Ince to dive in at the corner for their second try of the match. Gilmore added another conversion from the touchline and the gap was back to 10 points.
York rode out the one man disadvantage in what turned out to be a scrappy end to the game, but they still had the final say. Ben Jones-Bishop leapt to touch down for a further try with just seconds remaining on the clock.
York: Brown, Jones-Bishop, Buchanan, Field, Galeano, Hingano, Harris, Martin, McShane, Ta’ai, Dee, Bailey, Thompson
Subs (all used): Santi, Cook, O’Neill, Hudson
18th Player: Law
Tries: Harris (15), Bailey (25), Brown (35), Hingano (52), Jones-Bishop (80)
Goals: Harris (3/5)
Sin Bin: Dee (69)
Widnes: Edge, Ince, Hodson, Owens, Butt, Lyosn, Gilmore, Murray, Reilly, Lloyd, Langtree, Gregson
Subs (all used): Bent, Kirk, Bennion, Williams
18th Player: Bailey
Tries: Butt (30), Ince (69)
Goals: Gilmore (2/2)
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