YORK City Knights boss James Ford lauded the character and ability in his side after they “earned the respect of the Super League champions” - and he then urged the powers that be to sort out the club’s ground situation.

The Knights lost 46-6 at St Helens in the sixth round of the Ladbrokes Challenge Cup but the scoreline was much closer than bookmakers had predicted.

The loudest cheer of the night was also reserved for Tyler Craig’s late try for the League One part-timers – which sent the travelling fans wild and also earned notable applause from the home crowd.

Ford later asked how much better his squad could be if they had proper training facilities, instead of scratching around for venues as the community stadium saga continues to leave them homeless.

“I’m not surprised by the efforts and character they’ve shown,” said Ford of his team. “That’s been evident throughout the whole saga that we’re involved in.

“I’m really pleased that people are going to look not just at the scoreline but also the performance here and that my players will get credit for what they’ve done.

“They’ve shifted the ball around, and made five or six line breaks against the champions of Super League.

“As we mature we will learn to turn those line breaks into scores. We were a bit unfortunate at times.

“Defensively we’ve got good structures and the players believe in them. I thought we were reasonably good defensively but with the amount of possession Saints had it was always going to pay off.

“They’re a champion team and their athleticism and ability from one to 17 is clearly evident. They’ve got an outstanding coach in Keiron Cunningham, who is a legend of the game.

“But one of our primary goals was to earn the respect of Keiron Cunningham and I feel we’ve done that.

“St Helens’ players were complimentary of the character in my team and you could see they had respect for my players.

“Ultimately we weren’t good enough to win the game, but we can all hold our heads high.”

He added: “We’ve had a really good effort against the Super League champions.

“Just imagine where we could be if we got the off-field situation sorted out and we could get into a gym together and get the ground and the training facilities we all require.”