JAMES FORD says York City Knights' form in training has provided ample Christmas cheer - offsetting the off-field difficulties his club are enduring.

The Knights, having moved out of Huntington Stadium, are not being allowed to train as planned at York St John University's facilities due to an apparent impasse with City of York Council over the community stadium scheme, which is reaching a critical stage with the January 11 friendly against Hull at Bootham Crescent in major doubt.

But Ford has already praised his players for the way they have handled a disrupted pre-season and was given a further fillip by their efforts in a behind-closed-doors run-out against Super League club Wakefield.

"Putting aside the frustrations with the facilities situation, we're looking pretty healthy," said Ford of his squad.

"Obviously things haven't gone quite how we expected but I can't fault the players' effort, spirit or commitment, or how they've progressed over the last five or six weeks.

"We ran an opposed training session versus Wakefield and it was very good practice for both teams.

"Myself and James Webster (Wakefield boss) have a good relationship and I have a lot of respect for him as a person and as a coach. The opportunity to have a run against the Wildcats was something that will benefit us, and James also gave some good feedback to me and the players."

Ford, a lecturer at Wakefield College, added of the Super League outfit: "They accommodated us really well, and opened their gym for us, and I was impressed with what they delivered and how their players went about it."

Harry Carter had a hamstring complaint and Liam Cunningham family commitments but the rest of the squad took part.

Ford added: "I'm a difficult man to please so I expect us to improve and produce more next time. But I was happy with the way they went at this point in pre-season. We did some positive things defensively and offensively, but we will be striving for more."

The Knights' schedule has been further disrupted as Manor School, where some field sessions take place, is now shut until January 5, as it St John's facility, where the Knights train once a week but only as an "external user" - rather than a partner - due to the council's current stance. Only partner club Castleford's gym and wrestle room is available until then.

Ford added: "I always planned to put the players through some adversity in pre-season to help improve mental control in times of adversity during matches - but I never dreamed of putting them under this kind or amount of adversity."