• Published25 July 2026, 17:05 BST

Tries: Nofoaluma, Galeano, Thompson, Inman Goals: Bennison 3

Tries: Jagger, Lolohea, Wrench, Woolford Goals: Flanagan 4

Huddersfield Giants ended a run of 12 successive Super League defeats with a spirited victory at York Knights - although they were almost denied by a York comeback in the closing minutes.

Zac Woolford's try had put Huddersfield 24-10 in front with 10 minutes left to play, but veteran forward Jordan Thompson - who marked his 400th career appearance with a try - and Tom Inman touched down in quick succession to reduce the Giants' lead to two points.

However, the visitors held firm for the final four minutes to secure their first win since beating the same opponents on 4 April and clinch a first victory under Jim Lenihan, who was appointed as head coach in May.

Tui Lolohea played an important role for the Giants, scoring a try himself and setting up scores for Lewis Jagger and Connor Wrench.

David Nofoaluma had touched down Paul McShane's lofted kick to open the scoring for York and Scott Galeano crossed soon after Lolohea's try to cut the Knights' deficit to 12-10.

Converted scores by Wrench and Woolford looked to have put Huddersfield on course for a comfortable win, but York's quick double caused some late nerves before the final hooter.

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    Huddersfield remain adrift at the bottom of the Super League table but they have cut their gap to second-from-bottom Hull FC to four points.

    Huddersfield host Hull in their next fixture on Thursday.

    York had beaten Huddersfield at Magic Weekend earlier in July during a run of three straight wins, but successive defeats by Toulouse and Huddersfield have halted their positive momentum.

    Their next five fixtures are all against clubs currently in the top half of the table.

    Lenihan 'happy for players' after long-awaited win - reaction

    York head coach Mark Applegarth told BBC Radio York:

    "Congratulations to Huddersfield - they've been in a lot of close games of late and they were due to get one over the line. Unfortunately for us, we've given them that opportunity.

    "We're very inconsistent at the moment - it feels like we make three steps forward and then a couple back. We've got to keep on chasing that consistency in our performances, first and foremost.

    "I definitely don't want to take anything away from Huddersfield, they deserved the victory.

    "It's frustrating when you're coaching and we're making some simple errors. It's nothing like rocket science that we've got to fix, but we have got to fix it up if we want to compete regularly at this level."

    Huddersfield head coach Jim Lenihan told BBC Radio Leeds:

    "It's a little bit more [a feeling of] relief and I'm happy for the players more than anything else.

    "We've been working really hard at trying to better ourselves. We're changing the way we think about ourselves, we're changing the way we've defended, we've changed the way we've attacked.

    "This win has probably been a long time coming, in the fact that we've put ourselves in games and some inconsistency at different times has undone it.

    "We always said it was never going to be that we would lose by a lot and then suddenly start winning by a lot. We were going to have to tough our way out and defend our way out at the back end of a game and it was good that happened."

    York: Mata'afa; Bennison, Galeano, Williams, Nofoaluma; Hunter, McShane; Thompson, Inman, Va'a, Wood, Field, Hingano.

    Interchanges: Balmforth, Vaughan, Martin, Foster.

    Huddersfield: Evalds; Flanagan, Wrench, Gagai, Jagger; Rush, Lolohea; Patolo, Woolford, Rogers, Hewitt, Dunford, Rushton.

    Interchanges: King, Greenwood, Cozza, Geyer.