RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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Tries: Bennison, Field 2, Balmforth, Vaughan, Williams Goals: Bennison 5
Tries: Davies, Wright, Welsby 2, Robertson, Douglas Goals: Hastings 4
York Knights piled more misery on ailing St Helens with their first win over them in 80 years.
The teams went in level at 16-16 at the break with Jon Bennison, Oli Field and Denive Balmforth going over for the home side and Jake Davies, Shane Wright and Jack Welsby scoring tries for Saints.
Despite being a man down when Ata Hingano was sin-binned York went in front when veteran Paul Vaughan showed real grit to get the ball down and then Nikau Williams got over after the visitors failed to deal with a kick.
Welsby's superb second gave Saints hope but Field went in with eight minutes to go for his second and although late tries from Harry Robertson and Jacob Douglas set up a tense finish York held out.
St Helens boss Rowley leaves after less than a year
The 10-time Super League winners remain in seventh place and are in real jeopardy of missing out on the play-offs for the first time.
The injury-hit away side had looked dead and buried when Field went in for his second try after a lovely offload from Jack Martin but the visitors were only a missed conversion from Tristan Sailor from taking the game to golden-point extra time.
Even then they had time for one last play but a forward pass brought it to an end and meant they lost to York for the first time since 6 April 1946.
The error-strewn tone of the game was set after just three minutes when York failed to deal with a high kick from Jackson Hastings and Davies snaffled the loose ball to put the away team in front.
Ex-Saints man Bennison and then Field were beneficiaries of penalties to put the home side ahead only for another handling error to let Wright in and then Welsby avoided a last ditch tackle as O'Carroll's men went back in front.
Balmforth went in from dummy half to level the scores at 16 apiece at the break but Mark Applegarth's side's hopes were dealt a blow when Hingano was sin-binned for a high tackle.
However, Vaughan showed his experience and class to get over and Williams scrambled to touch the ball down when Saints erred on a kick as York went 12 ahead.
Welsby's super off-the-cuff score was the try of the match as they went the length of the field but his side could not avoid another damaging defeat.
York, who had lost to bottom-of-the-table Huddersfield last week, face a trip to Leigh on Friday while St Helens will bid to try and inject life into their season against lowly Hull FC on Thursday.
York Knights head coach Mark Applegarth told BBC Radio York:
"I would like to say I was nice and composed in the last minute or so but I was definitely a little twitchy.
"I'm really proud of how we showed the character to hang in there and grind out that win.
"I thought we made it a bit harder than we needed to in patches but that's one for Monday.
"It wasn't perfect but sometimes you've got find a way to win and we certainly did that."
St Helens interim coach Eamon O'Carroll told BBC Radio Merseyside:
"We didn't give in, which was great, but we certainly need to tidy a few things up in terms of our execution, more so defensively. When we got it wrong we got it wrong big.
"The yardage pens were very costly tonight.
"This is a much bigger job than just the performance at the weekend. This is about instilling some things that are going to help the club in the future, that is my main objective.
"There's still time yet and there's fight in the dog, definitely."
York: Mataafa, Galeano, Williams, Bennison, Hunter, McShane, Martin, Inman, Va'a, Foster, Field, Hingano, Djeukessi.
Interchanges: Balmforth, Vaughan, Thompson, Buchanan.
St Helens: Welsby, Murphy, Davies, Sailor, Douglas, Robertson, Hastings, Fifita, Burns, Walmsley, Wright, Host, Shorrocks.
Interchanges: Sinclair, Humphreys, Keeley, Matagi.
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