YORK City Knights bosses have expressed their satisfaction with the Huntington Stadium turn-out last Sunday, despite registering their lowest attendance of the year.

Crowds have steadily fallen after a bumper 3,105 attended the first match of the season against Hull KR, culminating in last Sunday's figure of 987 for the entertaining Arriva Trains Cup victory over Sheffield Eagles.

However, chief executive Steve Ferres said it was a 'fantasitc' figure, bearing in mind it was Mother's Day. The Knights also had to contend with the England v Ireland rugby union Grand Slam decider on terrestrial television, while both Knights and Sheffield had no chance of progressing in the competition.

"Obviously we would like more but we were delighted on Mother's Day to get that sort of crowd," Ferres told the Evening Press.

The Knights gave special treats to all the mothers who attended the match, handing out boxes of After Eight mints to youngsters to give to their mums.

"I think most people would have thought the crowd would have been down on previous gates, and I don't think Sheffield would have brought many, yet we got near to 1,000 people so we're not disappointed at all," said Ferres.

For the reverse fixture at Sheffield three weeks ago, the attendance was 730, significantly lower. Furthermore, elsewhere in the Arriva Trains Cup, only four games registered higher attendance figures than that at Huntington Stadium.

They included the big clash between National League title rivals Salford City Reds and Leigh Centurions (3,099), the game at big-guns Featherstone, who took on Hunslet (1,212), and the vital ATC match between Doncaster and Hull KR (1,127).

Only 26 more people watched the Cumbrian derby between Workington and Whitehaven than the York match, while all corporate boxes at Huntington Stadium were snapped up.

Ferres added: "It shows that the public of York are getting behind the side. We will get a big contingent from Featherstone at the next home game (the last ATC match, on April 13, before the league season starts) and hopefully another good turn-out from York to cheer on the team.

"The York fans have been brilliant and we're working towards giving them a successful side."

Updated: 11:44 Saturday, April 05, 2003