Workington Town come close to upsetting York City Knights in enthralling encounter

Workington Town were millimetres away from upsetting the odds yet again as they came close to topping York City Knights at Derwent Park.

York just edged the encounter 18-14 to stay top of the League One table but the result was in doubt up until the final hooter sounded.

Both sides were out on their feet at the close after giving their all in a superb advert for rugby league at this level.

The intensity was there from the kick-off and it did not wane throughout as Leon Pryce's charges pushed the Knights to their limits.

It was the visitors who held a slender two-point lead at the break but Town came back at the start of the second half to upset the apple cart.

Two errors from kicks led to two breakaway tries for the Knights and they proved the difference at the final whistle, despite Town coming back to within striking difference.

Town had a good chance in the opening minutes as York's Ronan Dixon made an early mistake and the home side got the ball near the visitors' line but three sets and they could not break through, a final ball proving just too hard for Tom Curwen to hang on to.

Another mistake handed Town a chance on the halfway line and they made good ground again before a kick through from Sam Forrester was chased down by York's Matt Marsh, just ahead of the Town chasers.

York went on their first real attack moments later and it was only a superb tackle from Elliot Miller that halted them as he wrapped up Bradley Hey to put him on his back over the line.

Town got another let-off as Marsh juggled the ball going over the line from a looping pass from Ben Cockayne as York upped the pace.

But then, the visitors got off the mark courtesy of a penalty goal, easily slotted over by Connor Robinson in front of the uprights.

Sean Penkywicz looked to try a different option with a chip and chase over the top of the York defence but Joe Batchelor collected it near his own try line and then danced through reaching the halfway line before he was pulled down.

And York were soon bearing down on the try-line before a fairly obvious forward pass from Robinson to Horne was spotted by the referee and, despite Horne diving over the whitewash, the points were denied him.

Town looked to get back into it and Miller thought he had burrowed his way under the desperate York defence near the corner flag but the referee was having none of it and said he was held up.

A catalogue of errors from both sides ended with Town in the visitors half and powering forward but, as they pressed, Tyler Dickinson spilled the ball right into the hands of a York attacker.

The half-hour mark had just gone when Cockayne caught the Town defence napping and allowed Ash Robson to dive over by the corner flag, but the kick was just too far out for Connor Robinson to add the extras.

This spurred the home side on and, five minutes later, it was Town's turn to crash over the line after some great work from Jamie Doran who skipped out of one tackle and dodged and weaved his way towards the line before feeding the supporting Tyllar Mellor who dived over.

The kick against the wind and rain was just wide from the boot of Forber, celebrating his 250th game for the club and Town went in at half-time just two points in the arrears.

Town opened the second half with force and a good tackle from Perry Singleton forced a crucial mistake from Matty Marsh and Town got the ball back around 30 metres out from the York try line.

And the pressure paid dividends as Fuifui Moimoi crashed over the line from short range to give the home side the lead. Forber's kick bounced back off the uprights right back into his arms.

As the home side looked to try and widen their advantage, a kick from Forber went right into the arms of Connor Robinson and the half-back went around 80-metres down the sideline to touch down and he then went on to add the conversion.

And just a few moments later, an attempted grubber from Doran saw the ball come loose again and it was fed to Joe Batchelor.

He used his pace to race up the right flank, coming inside to score by the posts, leaving Robinson an easy conversion to give York a 10-point gap.

With the clock beginning to tick down, Forber tried a neat chip over the top and it was Doran who hared after the ball and managed to kick towards the try line, slicing between two of York's defenders.

But he just couldn't get to it the second time as Matty Marsh just won the foot race and gratefully dropped on the ball.

The game continued to go from end to end with just a little bit of luck providing the chances for both sides.

Town got back into the game with 14 minutes left on the clock. Joe Hambley tried to weave his way through out on the right flank and then put a little dinking kick forward which bounced up nicely into the arms of Miller.

He did not need pointing in the right direction as he raced forward to dive over the line, with Forber adding a touchline conversion to bring them within four points of their visitors.

It was an action-packed final 10 minutes as the Knights looked to make sure of the points and Town looked to battle back.

Miller had a chance when he looked to gather up a kick but just couldn't hang on to the ball at stretch.

But the home side did not give up and as the final whistle sounded they flung the ball about until Perry Singleton put boot to ball and Mellor raced after it but the grateful York defender got there first and put it out of play to end the game.