Batley Bulldogs seal first ever Wembley appearance with brilliant 1895 Cup semi-final win over York Knights

The exceptional 22-8 victory, which consisted of tries from Josh Hodson, Adam Gledhill and Alistair Leak, sets up a mouthwatering West Yorkshire derby on Challenge Cup Final day on Saturday, August 12, at the iconic stadium after Halifax Panthers’ nervy 10-6 win at London Broncos in the first semi-final yesterday.

On a historic occasion at the LNER Community Stadium, where the Bulldogs beat Fax at the Summer Bash in May, Craig Lingard’s men dominated the first half but had to be at their dogged best in the second as York scored two quick tries in an attempt to come back into the contest after being 20-0 down.

Lingard had insisted that he wouldn’t need to say anything to his players before the game to get them motivated. Reaching the 1895 Cup final has always been at the forefront of these Bulldogs players’ minds, even before a ball had been thrown or kicked at the start of this 2023 campaign. And he was proved right as Batley came out fighting.

And although the opening ten minutes were error-strewn, in which the penalty count kept on mounting, Batley adjusted to the testing conditions the best and had a lot of the ball on the York line.

The home side’s defence was withstanding pressure. But it was a case of when, and not if, Batley would score the game’s first try. And so it proved in the 19th minute when James Meadow moved it quickly to the excellent Luke Hooley, who in turn found Hodson who squeezed through a gap to touch down.

Hooley, available to feature having not played in the Challenge Cup for parent-club Leeds Rhinos, made the conversion.

He was soon kicking another conversion after Dane Manning produced a super offload to Josh Woods and his delicate grubber kick was pounced on by Gledhill, who had caught the York defence napping.

The Knights had pressed the self-destruct button. Their error count had kept steadily rising throughout the first half. And after they conceded a penalty while in possession, Hooley gleefully took the two points on offer to make it 14-0.

The mistakes kept on coming. The kick from the restart went straight out on the full but York did manage back-to-back sets after Aidan McGowan refused to take any chances in his own try area. But the Bulldogs defended majestically to thwart any danger.

Yet another mistake - this time a knock-on - was celebrated like Batley had scored their third try. That is what it meant to these Bulldogs’ players.

They could, in fact, had their third try before the break. Samy Kibula and Alistair Leak were proving difficult to contain but York were saved any further pain by the referee’s whistle.

At that sound, Lingard’s men sprinted off to the changing room. York’s players trudged off despairingly as if they already knew their own Wembley hopes were in tatters.

The contrast in demeanour and morale was staggering. But not surprising considering Batley’s dominance. 40 minutes from Wembley with a 14-point cushion. And it got better for the visitors ten minutes into the second half playing towards their army of noisy fans.

York didn’t take advantage of some early pressure and they were ruthlessly punished when Leak bulldozed over the line from close range. Hooley did the rest with his trusted boot.

Game over? Not quite. Despite playing catch-up, they were handed a lifeline after AJ Towse crossed in the corner after a Liam Harris high bomb was not dealt with.

Batley could have well and truly sealed their Wembley dream after Kieran Buchanan broke down the centre but when he couldn’t force himself over and Woods tried to pass out wide to the left, it was superbly intercepted by Harris who went 90 metres - despite Hooley’s amazing effort to tackle him - to score York’s second try. Harris, however, failed to convert his own try. 20-8, three tries to two, but Hooley was the difference with his superb kicking.

That was evident late on when he kicked another penalty to finally secure Batley’s first ever appearance at Wembley.

York: Brown, Towse, Clarkson, Dee, Bass, Cunningham, Harris, Ta’ai, Jubb, Fitzsimmons, Field, Antrobus, Thompson

Interchanges: Hingano, Kirmond, Michael, Teanby

Tries: Towse, Harris

Batley: Hooley, Morton, Hodson, Kear, McGowan, Meadows, Woods, Gledhill, White, Brown, Manning, Buchanan, Reilly

Interchanges: Kibula, Leak, Flynn, Ward

Tries: Hodson, Gledhill, Leak

Conversions: Hooley (3)

Penalties: Hooley (2)