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MATCH REPORT- Dewsbury Rams 22-26 York City Knights

It was a game of two halves for the Rams on Sunday as they were defeated 22-26 by the York City Knights in Dewsbury’s first game of the 2019 season.

The Rams were 14-0 up at half time but a York fight back in the second half coupled with some Rams defensive errors meant it was the visitors who came home with a victory.

The home side started brightly, and it was Sam Day who crossed the line first for the Rams, as he got his first try of the afternoon. Day barged his way through the Knights defence and planted the ball over the whitewash. Paul Sykes as ever was on hand to kick the conversion attempt and he made the first one of the day a successful one.

York started to put the pressure on after that try and made a number of attempts to get back into the game, but again it was the Rams and Sam Day that came up with the next score of the afternoon. Day kicked the ball through a number of York players, he ran around the outside of them and dived onto his own kick through to score the second try of the day and his second of the match. The score now stood at Dewsbury 12-0 York.

On the 27th minute the Rams were awarded a penalty and Dewsbury decided to kick for the two points, Sykes duly put the ball between the posts to add to the Rams tally, now standing at 14-0.

The visitors came out firing in the second half, but again it was the home side who scored the next points, the Rams were awarded a penalty, and again Sykes put the kick through the posts to add the two points. The score now stood at 16-0 to Dewsbury.

Then came the fight back from York, Graeme Horne going over the line in the 55th minute with a darting run. Connor Robinson was on kicking duties for the Knights and he scored his first conversion of the afternoon. That meant the score was now Dewsbury Rams 16-6 York City Knights.

The Knights scored again two minutes later with Ash Robson collecting the ball after Alex Brown was unable to catch it from a high kick. Robson dived over the line in the corner to bring the visitors even closer to the Rams score, Robinson again kicked the conversion to add the extras.

York scored again on the 64th minute this time Josh Jordan-Roberts was the one to plant the ball over the whitewash. Robinson again converted his kick to take York into the lead, making the score 16-18 to York.

It wasn’t until the 71st minute when the Rams scored their next points, Tom Garratt crashed over the line from close range to take Dewsbury back into the lead. Sykes converted the kick to add the two points making the score 22-18 to the Rams.

The game ended on a knife edge with both sides doing all they could to win the game, but it was the visitors who came up with the winning points. Joe Porter grabbed the winning try when he slipped through a gap in the Rams defence to score, Robinson again made the kick look simple and that took the tally to 22-24 to the Knights.

There was just time for York to squeeze in two more points when Robinson kicked a penalty to add two more points to extend York’s score. That is how the game finished with York winning 26-22 on the day.

Next up for the Rams is a home fixture against the Swinton Lions.

Photography by freelance photographer Pete Smith.