YORK CITY KNIGHTS may soon be dubbed the entertainers of Kingstone Press League One - and head coach James Ford would revel in the tag.

The Knights put on a wonderful display of expansive rugby in a six-try first-half as they beat league leaders Rochdale Hornets 34-20 at Featherstone Rovers.

Ford's men bagged their sextet of scores in 28 explosive minutes, before adding a late second half try to put the seal on the victory, as they knocked the stuffing out of a Lancashire outfit that were previously unbeaten on the road in the league this season.

On how they play, the Knights boss said: "We want to win games and we want to win them with the brand of rugby that we believe in. I am not going to have five drives and kick just to win league points. You are here to entertain people and we do.

"We have got a lot of athletic players and they are all attack minded. They enjoy playing that way. I am sure when other teams see how we do things, they might adopt our set-up as well."

The Knights win was built on some hard yards gained by the likes of Jack Aldous, Mark Applegarth and man-of-the-match Brad Nicholson in the middle and Ford added of his grinders: "It is a very tough job in the middle. They have got to work hard for us in defence and getting up on inside pressure. They have got to carry the ball to get us some momentum so we can play.

"Jack Aldous was outstanding today for 72 minutes playing in the middle. Mark Applegarth was very, very good but young Brad Nicholson, who has shown signs of a lot of potential from when brought him to the club until now, has stepped up and I thought he was outstanding.

"He has got a big future in the game."

Also coming in for praise were dual-registration Castleford duo Michael Channing and James Clare, who got three tries between them on their excursion from the Super League club.

Ford said: "They are two good players aren't they? They are athletic players but what I really like about those two is their attitude. They turn up with so much enthusiasm, energy and positivity about them.

"They really put their hands up and had a dig for the boys. They are Castleford players and they are a credit to their coaching team when they come down and display that kind of attitude.

"In the past I have seen, from other clubs, dual-registration players not with the same kind of engaged focus as what we have seen from James and Michael."

It wasn't all plain sailing for the Knights, who had to put up with a determined fight-back from Rochdale coming down the hill at Post Office Road in the second half, but Ford felt the way his players stood up to the examination would prove useful in the weeks ahead.

"Rochdale are a good team and that is why they were top of the league," he explained. "They got momentum in the second half. We showed an immense amount of character to withstand that barrage in the second half and what epitomises us as a club at the minute is that the game was won and, in the last minute, they still chased back.

"That's the character we have got in this club and that's the character that is going to stand us in good stead for the rest of the season."