MICK Cook was today maintaining a focused game-by-game approach to the run-in after seeing his York City Knights side put one foot in LHF National League One.

The NL2 leaders increased their lead at the top of the table to five points with four games left by winning 54-22 at Blackpool yesterday, 48 hours after second-placed Dewsbury had lost at Sheffield.

But while he declared his delight at another two points won, Cook refused to say the title was now theirs to lose and instead advocated the old cliche of taking each game as it comes.

"We're in a really good position. We're five points clear," he said. "However, this game can be very rewarding but it can be so cruel as well.

"I don't think we can take anything for granted. We've still got tough games coming up."

Those games start with London Skolars at home next Sunday, then they face Hunslet, Workington and Sheffield.

Said Cook: "London are an improving side like Blackpool and we'll have to get ourselves up for that one. They will want to spoil the party at Huntington Stadium and we will need to improve, be more clinical, stop giving so much away and tighten up in defence.

"Workington could be fighting for second spot, Sheffield beat Dewsbury on Friday night and I don't think Hunslet have been an easy side to beat for anybody at their place.

"They're not easy games and we're taking them one at a time.

"We've earned the right to be where we are but it's down to us to make sure we get everything right and not allow any slip-ups."

Cook described the Knights' performance at Blackpool as patchy.

"We didn't start the game well but we managed to bed back in well and I knew when we kicked in we would have too much for them," he said.

"Credit to Blackpool, they didn't give up the ghost and we had to work hard to get the points. They played at a good pace and they showed against Gateshead last week that they can be very dangerous.

"I was a bit disappointed with the possession we turned over at the start but we came back into the arm wrestle and came out on top in the half.

"In the first ten minutes they had seven sets and we had two but after that we had some good territory in their half and it took a bit out of their tank, which is why we ran in a few tries in the first half.

"We handled the pressure early doors and asked a lot of questions even without scoring a lot of tries. We were patient and got the rewards when they ran out of steam, and it was a comfortable victory if you look at the scoreboard."

He added: "They scored 22 points, which I'm not happy with. We conceded 15 points last week to the team who were second (Dewsbury) and 22 points this week to the team who were bottom. That shows that every game is different and you've got to defend well and earn the right to score points on a weekly basis."

Updated: 10:59 Monday, August 08, 2005