Showing posts with label York. Show all posts
Showing posts with label York. Show all posts

Saturday, 6 February 2010

Leigh v York at Huntington Stadium - a 20 year history

York moved from their spiritual Clarence Street home to the edge of town in 1989 yet it was two years before Leigh made a trip there.


This was during a season when there were 8 teams in the Second Division with everyone playing each other four times to make a 28 game league programme. Leigh won there 22-7 on 28th October 1991. This was a Monday night fixture that was broadcast to pubs and clubs across Northern England yet the system failed in the Mick Martyn bar and fans who couldn't make the trip had to listen to the radio for any mention of scores.

Four months later Leigh returned to the venue and toughed out a 21-4 win. Star of the show was David Hill who claimed a hat-trick.

It was a further two and a half years until Leigh played at York and in the meantime the club had gained promotion and then been relegated. The debut of Tau Liku couldn't inspire Leigh to victory and the hosts edged a win by 15-14.

Leigh's next visit came in September 1995 and this time it was Leigh's turn to win narrowly - 20-18 during the helter skelter Centenary season.

A balmy late July evening welcomed the Centurions 1996 game and in one of their best performances of the season, Leigh won 31-6, this came despite the sending off of David Ingram for a high tackle and proved to be one of Alan Mason's finest games.

The Centurions and York fought another close game in 1997 with Matt Nixon in good form as Keith Latham's Leigh edged a 21-16 victory.

Close run things were common place on the next two meetings in 1999 and 2000 as first Ian Millward, then Paul Terzis led sides struggled at the Huntington Stadium. 1999 saw a 14-12 victory while a late try edged a 28-22 win to Leigh in 2000.

There was no such problem in 2001 as a fast, strong and powerful Leigh side with Simon Svabic and Neil Turley in game breaking mood inspired the Centurions to a midweek 84-12 hammering of a struggling York. Turley scored 4 tries that night while Svabic went within a goal of equalling Mick Stacey's game record of 15.

York were on the verge of closure by the time of the Centurions next visit in February 2002, but a spirited show from the hosts restricted another strong Leigh team to a 48-6 victory.

This game, and 13 other York fixtures were later expunged from league records.

For clarity however, here are the details of that game:

York: 1. Jamie Benn, 2. Michael Forbes, 3. Shaun Austerfield, 4. Robert Lee, 5. Gavin Molloy, 6. Jon Liddell, 7. Scott Yeaman, 8. Michael Docherty, 9. Peter Edwards, 10. Steve Hill, 11. Carl Barrow, 12. Mick Ramsden, 13. Mark Cain. SUBS: 14. Andy Precious, 15. Andy Hutchinson, 16. Darren Crake, 17. Andy Lee.

Try: Yeaman.
Goal: Benn.

Leigh: 1. Neil Turley, 2. Liam Bretherton, 3. Phil Kendrick, 4. Jon Roper, 5. Eric Andrews, 6. Simon Svabic, 7. Willie Swann, 8. Paul Norman, 9. John Hamilton, 10. David Bradbury, 11. Paul Anderson, 12. Andrew Isherwood, 13. Adam Bristow. SUBS: 14. Chris Morley, 15. Paul Rowley, 16. Mark McCully, 17. Vila Matautia.

Tries: Bristow 2, Andrews 2, Isherwood 2, Bretherton, Swann, Bradbury.
Goals: Turley 6.
Attendance: 680.

Leigh haven't played at Huntington Stadium (ahead of Sunday's game) since 2006. On that occasion Leigh won 24-10 despite having to play hooker Gary Sykes on the wing and Scott Grix being sent off at the start of the second half.

Tuesday, 5 January 2010

A look at how Warrington's 2009 Challenge Cup Run got started: My report from the game v York

WARRINGTON WOLVES 56
YORK CITY KNIGHTS 10
DAVE PARKINSON at the Halliwell Jones Stadium.

Warrington marched into Round Five of the Carnegie Challenge Cup with a 56-10 victory that was comprehensive but did not paint the full picture of the game.

Wolves Head of Coaching, Tony Smith, spotted plenty of positives in the defeat of their Championship One opponents. He said, “I thought we were great with the ball, very good and and very professional. We didn’t make many errors. Defensively I was a little disappointed in the first half, but we lifted in the second and to have a nil scoreline shows that we improved.”

Warrington made a good start to the game when a short pass from Chris Bridge put Simon Grix over after two minutes. Chris Hicks missed the conversion and York came at their illustrious opponents with a try of quality. Quick movement put the ball out to the right and former Featherstone winger Wayne McHugh sped down the wing before turning the ball back inside for Danny Ratcliffe to romp over for his 5th try of the season. Richard Knight converted but the Knights joy was soon dampened when Kiwi International Vinnie Anderson scored and Hicks tagged on the first of 8 goals.

Ben Harrison crossed for the Wolves third try after seventeen minutes but York responded well and on the back of a couple of penalties, they held onto possession for four successive sets. Mike Mitchell was stopped on the line but with the Wolves back tracking, Paul Hughes plunged through from dummy half. With Ben Westwood returning from his suspension and Gareth Carvell playing his first game in six weeks, the Wolves had two of the most influential forwards on show and it was the former who was next on the scoreboard following the distribution of Lee Briers and a run against the grain in the 26th minute. York adapted a holding pattern with brothers Paul and David March well to the fore alongside Adam Sullivan and Mark Applegarth and this worked for ten minutes before Hicks spilled the ball in the act of scoring. With that, confidence flooded back and the Wolves nabbed the final try of the half when Jon Clarke dummied his way through and had youngster Mike Cooper on his shoulder to go under the posts.

Trailing 28-10 at halftime, York needed the first score of the second half but that went the way of the hosts when Bridge showed quick feet and strength to beat two men from ten metres before he handed off another tackler on the line. York fashioned half a chance when McHugh took a kick near his own line and linked with Tom Haberecht and Ratcliffe but the fullback was ankle tapped. 34-10 was a fair reflection of the game before a couple of mad moments changed the landscape.

First Knights replacement Chris Clough alleged biting in a tackle which saw the referee put the incident on report without specifying a potential culprit, then when Warrington were awarded a penalty prop Danny Ekis seemed to raise his forearm in tackling Louis Anderson. Both teams piled into the disagreement and referee James Child sent Ekis from the field and again put the incident on report.

As the Knights tired, Warrington clinically ran in tries from Briers and Vinnie Anderson (his second), before two stoppage time raids brought further scores from Louis Anderson and Paul Johnson to take the Wolves past fifty points.

The City Knights Director of Rugby, James Ratcliffe was upbeat after the game. “We stuck at it.” He said. “It was really hard in the last fifteen minutes when we were down to twelve men. It’s hard enough playing a Super League side with thirteen men! I think we’ve gained a lot from it from our point of view. I do see it as a springboard and I think it was a good performance against full-time opposition and World Class stars.”

GAMEBREAKER: When Chris Bridge opened second half scoring after 49 minutes, it was always going to be too big a job for the plucky Knights to complete.

GAMESTAR: Gareth Carvell was immense in the Warrington engine room. A consummate prop forward performance, full of running, controlled aggression and a couple of offloads for good measure.


WARRINGTON
23 Chris Hicks
2 Paul Johnson
13 Vinnie Anderson
20 Simon Grix
4 Matt King
25 Chris Bridge
6 Lee Briers
16 Gareth Carvell
14 Mick Higham
15 Paul Wood
22 Lee Mitchell
12 Ben Westwood
24 Ben Harrison
Subs (All used)
10 Paul Rauhihi
18 Mike Cooper
11 Louis Anderson
9 Jon Clarke

Tries: Grix (2), Ratcliffe (6), Vinnie Anderson (10, 73), Harrison (17), Westwood (26), Cooper (39), Bridge (49), Briers (70), Louis Anderson (79), Paul Johnson (80).
Goals: Hicks 8/10
Field Goal:

On Report: (63) unspecified player – alleged biting on Chris Clough
(65) unspecified players – Brawl
Sin bin: (TIME) – offence
Dismissals:

CITY KNIGHTS
32 Danny Ratcliffe
3 John Oakes
28 Mike Mitchell
12 Tom Haberecht
34 Wayne McHugh
27 Danny Grimshaw
7 Paul March
8 Danny Ekis
9 Paul Hughes
10 Adam Sullivan
11 Rob Kelly
13 Richard Knight
21 David March
Subs (All used)
14 Tom Hodgson
29 Mark Applegarth
15 Chris Clough
17 Scott Woodcock

Tries: Ratcliffe (6), Hughes (23)
Goals: Knight 1/2
Field goal:

On Report: (65) unspecified players - Brawl
Sin bin:
Dismissal: (65) Ekis – use of elbow in tackle.

Rugby Leaguer & League Express Men of the Match
Warrington: Gareth Carvell
York: Adam Sullivan

Penalty count: 9-11

Half-time: 28-10
Referee: Mr J Child
Attendance: 4,709.

SCORING SEQUENCE:
4-0, 4-6, 10-6, 16-6, 16-10, 22-10, 28-10, 34-10, 40-10, 46-10, 52-10, 56-10.