YORK City Knights’ new owners have an aim to join Featherstone Rovers at the top end of the Championship in the next few years – and this maiden outing of 2017 gives a clue as to how far they have to go to get there.

James Ford’s brand new, inexperienced York side – of the 21 faces on show, only six were part of the squad that reached last year's League One play-offs – were seen off 46-4 by their Post Office Road hosts in a testimonial for Rovers full-back Ian Hardman.

They were brushed aside early on, Fev scoring four tries in the first 15 minutes before the visitors got to grips with being in a match again. However, they did make a game of it thereafter.

To be fair, Rovers had already swept Halifax and Hunslet aside this pre-season and were much further ahead in their preparations than a York outfit who have had to play catch-up following the uncertainty at the end of last season and the December takeover.

Fev also fielded a strong Championship line-up, including all their key men barring flier Misi Taulapapa and former York playmaker Anthony Thackeray. Anything but a comfortable win would have been a surprise.

Still, scorelines don’t matter at this stage of the year, and lessons would have been learned by both the players and Ford.

Those lessons were pretty harsh at the outset, starting as early as the first set, when a penalty gave the hosts free territory from which Jason Walton – one of Rovers’ players with Super League experience – opened the scoring. Half-back Kyle Briggs, another, added the first of his five conversions.

York turned the ball over the first time they touched it, and were punished, Walton the creator this time for his winger James Duckworth.

Then they were offside from the restart, and Frankie Mariano was allowed to offload for Walton to get his second.

It was all too easy – 14-0 inside eight minutes, all the tries coming down York’s left.

Ford switched Nev Morrison from right wing to left centre in a bid to stem the tide but then Rovers attacked the side he’d just left and Luke Briscoe scored. Morrison was the one experienced player in York’s starting back line and a leading performer on the day, despite only joining pre-season late on his return from a year in Australia.

On the few occasions the Knights did attack, the rucks were slower and the defence much better set.

They nearly did score, though, as Harry Carter – who added impetus after coming on at hooker – touched down stand-off Danny Sowerby’s grubber just after it had gone dead.

Carter also had a try ruled out when touching down a loose ball, Joe Batchelor having knocked it on.

This was better stuff, even if there was an understandable lack of fluidity. The defence sharpened up too, forcing Fev out of bounds when seemingly destined for a fifth first-half try.

Ed Smith was halted just short too.

Still, it was 26-0 just before half-time as rangy winger Scott Turner skipped past too many men and gave Hardman a testimonial try.

The second-half try-scoring started six minutes in but only after a harsh penalty for reefing, Michael Knowles the scorer.

Loose-forward Brad Tagg was next to cross, York’s claims of a double movement bizarrely ignored. The officials, too, are in pre-season.

But then the Knights got on the board. After Briscoe fumbled, the visitors scooped up the ball and fed James Haynes – a substitute at centre – and he raced up the touchline to dive into the corner.

The second half as a whole was much more even. Rovers chucked on a couple of trialists as both sides ramped up the interchanges, including ex-York second-row Aaron Lyons, and that maybe was a factor, but so did Ford - including York Acorn ARLC player of the year Joe Porter, who did his hopes of earning a contract no harm with a feisty effort.

Fev added to their lead though as York’s counter-attack led by Sowerby, who flitted in and out of the game, was itself countered when Haynes’ pass – well thought but poorly executed – went to ground, the ever-dangerous Turner finishing the move.

Hardman, fittingly, ended his big day with a last-minute try, sprinting through a big hole. Unfittingly he missed the conversion.

Nevertheless, after that worrying first quarter, the Knights coped reasonably well with what was always going to be a tough start to 2017. The older heads got the team in better positions; the youngsters were not short of heart. They had also lost Batchelor to a first-half injury, the former Coventry second-row helped off.

Perhaps having a tough start was part of their pre-season plan. They certainly haven’t made it easy for themselves, with home friendlies to come against London Broncos, another top-end Championship team, and Super League club Hull. How they shape up thereafter is what matters.

Featherstone: Hardman, Duckworth, Walton, Briscoe, Turner, Briggs, Wildie, Griffin, Day, Cooper, Mariano, Davies, Tagg. Subs (all used): Carlile, Knowles, Moore, Johnson, Kitchen, Bostock, Lyons. Tries: Walton 2, 8; Duckworth 5; Briscoe 15; Hardman 40, 80; Knowles 46; Tagg 54; Turner 69. Goals: Briggs 5/7.

Knights: Robson, Foggin-Johnston, Brierley, Swift, Morrison, Sowerby, H Tyson-Williams, B Tyson-Williams, P Smith, Siddons, E Smith, Batchelor, Spears. Subs (all used): Carter, Haynes, Learmonth, Hey, Dixon, Porter, Kittrick, Downes. Try: Haynes 56.

Attendance: 1,196