York 2 Cougars 26 - THIS WAS definitely a case of 'After the Lord Mayor's Show.' Where Friday night's game was pure entertainment -- this was pure agony.

The only good thing about the performance was the Cougars' defensive display. They never looked like conceding a try and restricted York to two early Mark Cain drop goals. Other than that it was definitely a case of a game too far after the exertions and the intensity of the Hunslet game.

During the first half the Cougars were just awful. They made thirteen handling errors before Max Tomlinson grabbed the game by the scruff of its neck.

In the 35th minute he took a Mick Slicker off-load on half way to race clear before sending Graeme Hallas over for the opening Cougar score. Three minutes later Tomlinson jinked through three tackles to race clear himself. Nathan Antonik added both conversions to make it 12-2 at the break.

The second half was a much more professional performance. Ironically playing into the teeth of a gale and horizontal rain the Cougars began to control the ball and boss the game. Martin Wood landed two penalties to push the lead to 16-2.

Dean Hanger again came up trumps taking an inside pass from Wood to slice through the defence on the hour, and four minutes later Jason Ramshaw marked his return to the team with a typical try from acting half on the York line. Wood's conversion completed the scoring, but not the drama.

What followed next was pure farce. Frustration had got the better of York, Lee Titchener was dismissed on the 70th minute for punching Matt Walker and four minutes later disaster struck for the Cougars when Steve Hall was also dismissed. He too walked for punching, but if anything he acted in self defence as, for the third time in four minutes, York had initiated a minor skirmish.

Video evidence should make sure that Hall is exonerated, and should also support Karl Harrison's frustrations at the standard of refereeing. The 10-metre rule was rarely enforced stifling the game and some of Peter Lee's decisions were just ... odd.

Harrison said after the game: "The standard of refereeing left a lot to be desired. The guy didn't even know the rules. Steve Hall's dismissal looked like nothing more than the front rows pushing each other around and our man got the red card."

That was the only bad moment for the Cougars in a highly successful Easter programme. They now move up to fifth spot only two points behind top side Doncaster.

Once again the ugly head of Rugby League 'crowd fixing' raised its ugly head with an official figure of just over 1,000 being recorded, when that was at least that number of travelling Cougar fans. If clubs insist on massaging their own figures they cannot complain when sponsors and TV companies won't give their backing, believing that support is low.

York: McCracken; Woodcock, Preston, Gray, Ryce; Cain, Dobson,; Forsythe, Pallister, S Hill, Judge, A Hill, Darley. Subs (all used) McKenzie, Titchener, Hargrave, Hagan.

Cougars: Hanger; Tomlinson, Hallas, R Smith, Lee; Seale, Antonik; Hall Ramshaw, Boothroyd, Harrison, Hughes, Wood. Subs (all used): Owen, Walker, Stephenson, Slicker.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.