It proved to be a game of two halves in what was a fantastic advert for Championship rugby in the pouring rain at Post Office Road.
Attacking down the slope, the Knights had the upper hand before the break, with Joe Brown breaking the deadlock before Ben Jones-Bishop twice surged over into the right corner to hand them a 16-0 lead at the break.
Featherstone though were a team transformed in the second half, scoring four tries in an 18-minute burst that York simply had no answer to.
Connor Jones and Caleb Aekins crossed within seven minutes of the restart, with Ryan Hampshire converting his own try to put the hosts in front for the first time on 55 minutes before King Vuniyayawa took the score to 24-16.
The Knights did find something from nothing as skipper Liam Harris burst through to bring the scores back within two and set up a grandstand finish, but it was Featherstone who held on for victory.
MATCH RECAP: Featherstone Rovers 24-22 York Knights
Mark Applegarth named an unchanged side from last week’s demolition of Doncaster, with full-back Brown making his 150th career appearance.
Paul Cooke meanwhile handed a start to Knights legend Will Jubb, former loanee Connor Wynne and influential full-back Aekins, as they looked to stop the rot that had kept them only off the bottom of the table on points difference ahead of kick-off.
It was an entertaining, hard-hitting and ferocious opening as the sides battled to get themselves on top.
Featherstone turned to powerful prop Gadwin Springer to make metres in centre field, and it looked as though they would take the lead after winning back-to-back penalties on the five-minute mark, but a knock-on five metres from the line spared York’s blushes.
Ata Hingano was stopped just short on the last as the Knights looked to hit back, but it was the hosts who continued to see the better of the opportunities.
Derrell Olpherts picked up a loose ball and raced 80 metres before he was hacked down by Kieran Buchanan, with Harris then able to collect a grubber on the last.
It was however the visitors who opened the scoring just after the quarter-hour, Jesse Dee skipping through a gap on the 30-metre line and feeding the supporting Brown to dot down under the posts, handing Harris a simple conversion.
Harris floated a cut-out pass to Jones-Bishop, who raced 15 metres into the right corner, the skipper nailing a difficult conversion.
Featherstone did look threatening when they came close to the Knights’ line, but found themselves undone by unforced errors, falling further behind on the half-hour.
A bursting Brenden Santi run brought York within 10 metres, with Harris then shipping the ball right to Buchanan, who fed Jones-Bishop to again score out wide.
Harris’ conversion hit the left-hand post, dropping two points that ultimately proved costly.
It was the hosts who saw the better of the end of the half, winning a goal-line drop-out, and then a scrum, but York easily saw out the danger to head in with a comfortable 16-0 lead at the break.
The Knights won an early scrum on the 40-metre line, but Harris’ angled grubber bounced past the onrushing Santi.
Paul McShane did well to field a dangerous Hampshire grubber as Featherstone began to pile on the pressure, but York soon saw their defence breached.
A loose pass handed the hosts back possession on the 40-metre line, with Jones rising highest to Hampshire’s cross-field chip and twisting his way over to score from close range.
Hampshire wasted no time in slotting over the conversion and was on target from the tee again just two minutes later, with the Knights’ defence all at sea as Aekins sidestepped his way through a gap and raced under the posts.
With their floodgates opening, York did themselves no favours, giving away a cheap penalty before Hingano’s end-of-set kick was blasted into touch.
Featherstone lost Josh Hardcastle to a HIA but were soon in front, Danny Addy releasing Hampshire through a gaping hole to score his first try for the club to the left of the posts. The influential half-back made no mistake from the tee to put his side 18-16 in front.
York continued to be pinned back in their own half from the restart, and were lucky not to see Vuniyayawa further the hosts’ lead after a slipped tackle saw him bearing down on the touchline, but his offload went to ground.
Featherstone, having scored 24 unanswered points, were brimming with confidence, but momentum did briefly switch back the Knights’ way inside the final 10 minutes.
Off the back of one of their best sets of the half, Harris broke through a gap, and then the tackle of a diving Aekins, to score under the posts, his successful conversion set up a grandstand finish.
York came close to regaining their lead in the minutes that followed, but Harris knocked-on before Jones-Bishop ran into traffic on the right edge.
It was last chance saloon on the hooter as Dee looked to chase a hopeful punt forward, but Aekins was there first to spark jubilation for the home crowd.
FEATHERSTONE ROVERS: Aekins, Olpherts, O’Connor, Hatton, Wynne, Jones, Hampshire, Springer, Jubb, Becket, Hardcastle, Webb, Addy.
INTERCHANGES: Turner, Wilde, Williams, Vuniyayawa
TRIES: Jones (45), Aekins (47), Hampshire (55), Vuniyayawa (63)
GOALS: Hampshire 4/4
YORK Knights: Brown, Jones-Bishop, Buchanan, Field, Galeano. Hingano, Harris, Martin, McShane, Ta’ai, Dee, Bailey, Thompson.
INTERCHANGES: Cook, Santi, Reynolds, Hudson
TRIES: Brown (16), Jones-Bishop (22, 30), Harris (72)
GOALS: Harris 3/4
POINTS SEQUENCE: 0-4, 0-6, 0-10, 0-12, 0-16, 4-16, 6-16, 10-16, 12-16, 16-16, 18-16, 22-16, 24-16, 24-20, 24-22
HALF TIME: 0-16
YORK’S STAR MAN: Joe Brown. The full-back was safe under the high ball and barely put a foot wrong on his 150th career appearance.
REFEREE: Ryan Cox
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