York Knights 'got what they deserved' in defeat at Batley

So said York Knights head coach Andrew Henderson after his side fell just short of an almighty comeback in a 22-18 defeat at Batley Bulldogs.

Both sides had just one Betfred Championship win to their name heading into the fixture on the famous Mount Pleasant slope, but a 22-point deficit proved too much for the Knights to overcome, despite late tries from Ukuma Ta’ai, Jordan Thompson and Tom Lineham.

Mistakes were the story of the Knights’ first half in West Yorkshire, with Lucas Walshaw opening the scoring on his 250th career appearance before Joe Burton controversially fired Batley further ahead just before the half-hour.

And despite coming out of the blocks well after the break, any forward momentum was quickly stifled as more defensive mistakes opened the door for Robbie Butterworth and Alistair Leak to add their names to the scoresheet within 15 minutes of the restart.

Ata Hingano, returning from injury, made an instant impact off the bench in the only notable spark for the Knights, but despite leaving themselves with 15 minutes to pull level, Batley had just enough to see out a precious two points.

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Henderson kept his team inside the dressing room for almost half an hour following the game’s conclusion, but whilst clearly disappointed that they had not managed to turn the match on its head, he had no complaints about the final scoreline.

“If I’m being honest, we probably got what we deserved to be fair,” he admitted.

“As much as we put ourselves in a position to win the game, I think we got what we deserved.”

Tasked with the challenge of attacking up the hill during the first half, the Knights were inevitably firmly on the back foot, finding themselves with a 10-point deficit at the break.

Henderson conceded: “You look at the way that we started the game, the first two sets we had with the ball, it was always going to be tough going.

“We were going up the hill for starters, but also into a really strong wind.

“We knew metres would be hard to come by, so we accepted the fact that we weren’t probably going to get a lot of field position in that first half and we didn’t. I think we only had one set with the ball in good ball inside the opposition 40.

“We didn’t enjoy much field position in that first half, but at the start of that first half we come up with an error with Ukuma Ta’ai on play four when we’re on the halfway line, and then the next set Jordy Thompson comes up with one, so it’s back-to-back errors at the start of our game.

“Then off the back of that because we’ve given them the field position, we’re then constantly camped on our own line coming out – it was really, really tough going.

“A little bit of discipline again let us down, which put them in good field position and they managed to score.

“But from previous experience coaching here, if you’re within 12 points going in at half-time, you’re in with a pretty good chance of winning the game.”

Tom Lineham collected Jimmy Keinhorst's outrageous pass to add the Knights' final points. (Image: Craig Hawkhead)

Henderson’s side came out with a fire under them after the interval as they looked to hit back early on, with Lineham seeing a try chalked off after referee Scott Mikalauskas had ruled Nikau Williams’ cut-out pass to have been forward.

Instead, Batley extended their lead seemingly out of nowhere, with Ben White breaking through the defensive line and playing in the supporting Butterworth, before Myles Harrison lost the ball on his 20-metre line in the first tackle on the kick return, allowing Leak to touch down beneath the posts.

“We came out with a great start to the second half, and forced the drop-out,” Henderson continued.

“I thought that at the time the call was a bit harsh, I’m not sure it was a forward pass for Tommy Lineham to score in the corner. I think had we scored early doors there, it might have changed the context of the game.

“But the reality is, the officials ruled that one out, and I think from the next defensive set we gave away the penalty, they get the field position, and then they score a bit of a breakaway try.

“It’s just not good enough from our standards, and that was the disappointing thing.

“We had a great start to that second half, but we didn’t quite get what we thought we were going to get from it. Then, we’ve just got to do better. We can’t be giving away a penalty from the next set and letting them score.

“Myles Harrison comes up with an error under the posts – a one-on-one ball steal – when he’s returning the ball back, which puts them in the field position to score what I thought was a soft try, Alistair leak near the try-line.

“That gives them that 12 points and we find ourselves 22-0 down with about 25 to go.

“But I’ve got to give credit to the team in terms of the way we got back on the task, got some momentum and we scored some wonderful tries.

“When we got it back to 22-18 and there were about eight minutes to go, I thought ‘maybe we can win this’. But we came up with an error on the halfway line, we forced something that we didn’t need to.

“I understand if you’re in a position where you’re 12 or 16 behind with eight minutes to go, you probably have to chance your arm a little bit and play what I call a little bit hot. But we were within four with eight minutes to go, so stay patient, keep boxing them sets off, and the opportunity will come.

“But unfortunately, we gave away that field position, and ultimately we couldn’t get that back to get that final score.”