Swinton brought a large number of travelling fans to this postage stamp-sized pitch but all would be disappointed by this hesitant performance.
Once again Swinton played in fits and starts and although they turned up the agression in the second half couldn’t hit their stride.
Frustration with missed chances hit a fever pitch as the match hit a bitter second period.
The normally sanguine Mick Govin was red carded with 12 minutes to go for shocking use of the forearm in a high tackle on York’s Howden.
The loss puts Swinton down in eighth after 11 matches played, while the Knights leap up to third.
It was all too simple. York took the lead in the first minute when the kick off hit the posts and bounced back into the hands of a York attacker – Ed Smith scored by the posts and Jordan Howden slotted over an easy conversion.
Six minutes later they were in again when Ben Dent scored in the left corner following a penalty against the Lions but Howden missed the conversion.
The Lions hit back from the restart when the kick off from Govin hung in the air and Swinton’s giant second row Tom Thackerey got to the ball first to set up the move which saw Chris Atkin score in the left corner.
Howden sold a huge dummy to the Lions defence on twenty-five minutes to score on the left but Dent missed the conversion.
Andy Ackers opened the scoring for the second half when Andy Thornley and Richie Hawkyard set up the position for him to race away and score by the posts.
White’s conversion brought the Lions within six points but the Knights went further ahead against the run of play when James Clare scored on the left and Dent converted.
Five minutes later they made the game safe when Castleford-bound Greg Minikin scored in the right corner.
With eight minutes left Darren Hawkyard scored the final try of the match after being set up by his brother and White added the conversion to complete the scoring.
