YORK City Knights boss James Ford hailed the character in his side after watching them beat Oxford 36-26 despite playing almost the entire match a man down - and he then launched a scathing attack on the visitors’ discipline on and off the pitch.

Oxford counterpart Tim Rumford, the former Heworth ARLC head coach who was back at his old Elmpark Way stomping ground, was spared criticism, but a furious Ford labelled the Dark Blues’ support staff and bench a “disgrace” and “embarrassing”.

Knights prop Jack Aldous was sent off for punching Lee Land in a sixth-minute skirmish, while the hosts also saw captain James Haynes stretchered off amid fears the full-back could be out for the season with knee ligament damage.

After an eventful match in which the expansion club threatened a shock win, Ford also slated the officiating for allowing Oxford to niggle and foul throughout the contest.

“First of all I should probably give praise to Oxford for competing really well - they should be proud of some of what they did,” he said.

“But I was not too impressed with their discipline on or off the pitch. If it was my club behaving like that I would be embarrassed with some of the stuff that went on.

“They’ve got some good footballers and should base performances around that. But there was such a lack of discipline in and around the ruck.

"There could have been 100 penalties and while nobody wants to see a game with 100 penalties, I have no idea why they weren’t on a team warning after five minutes.

“I also have no idea what they were doing off the field. It was embarrassing.

“It wasn’t Tim (Rumford) but his support staff. They were constantly shouting abuse at players and officials, and bombarding the touch judge with verbal abuse. I would be disappointed with that if it was an amateur club let alone a professional team.”

Asked if he had spoken directly to Rumford, Ford said: “I said well done (on their performance). I want the expansions teams to develop and kick on. One part of me is pleased they’re improving a whole heap, but how some of them conducted themselves was embarrassing.

“One of their crowd shouted, ‘Get up I’ve got to get home,’ when James Haynes was receiving treatment. That’s disgraceful. It’s a serious injury, possibly season-ending. That kind of thing doesn’t belong in rugby league. It doesn’t belong anywhere.”

Of Aldous’ red card, Ford said: “It was harsh. The game was saturated with amateurish rubbish and, until referees are going to get control of it, things like that are going to happen.

“He had given us the penalty and Jack has just reacted to their player. Jack says he hit him, kneed him and had his hand in his face. I’m not overly upset with Jack. Week in week out teams take liberties with us and Jack had had enough.

“If they’re not hitting Jonny Presley five seconds after he’s passed the ball, they’re chopping us behind the knee, and then there’s all this rubbish.

“Refereeing is a tough job and I appreciate how hard it is. Discipline at a club starts at the top. Oxford’s performance was quite good. If they had some discipline they might even have won.”

The Knights scored seven tries but Oxford never went away and at one point in the second half only the referee’s whistle denied them the chance of an equaliser.

Asked if he was ever concerned, Ford said: “No. There was a clear division in ability between the teams. Momentum swung away from us at one point but we showed character.

“We had to change things (after the red card) but I was really pleased with the boys. To say they played 74 minutes with 12 men and also lost our captain through injury, the character and togetherness was superb.

“All the middle guys put their hands up and worked overtime.”

Of the off-the-field accusations, Rumford said: “What happens in the heat of battle happens in the heat of battle. I’m deeply engrossed in the game when I’m coaching and I did not see anything. It didn’t have an impact on the result. I’m more concerned with my team’s performance than with anything that gets said on the touchline.

“I’m sure James Ford when he reflects will probably think the same.”

Of Aldous’ red card, Rumford said: “I was on the other side of the pitch, but that’s the rules - if someone throws a punch they get sent off. I feel sorry for him going off that early but whether it’s right or wrong is up to the officials.”

He added: “York showed a lot of character.”