JAMES FORD reckons his York City Knights side have already defied the odds and proved doubters wrong after achieving their first goal of the season – but their job is far from done.

The Knights’ 50-10 win over Hemel at Elmpark Way, coupled with results elsewhere, all but guarantees a place in the League One promotion play-offs with two games to spare.

Keighley and Swinton can leapfrog them into second place by winning their games in hand, but Ford and his troops still head into their two-week break knowing only outlandishly heavy defeats can now see them fall out of the top five.

“It’s not bad for a team who were tipped to finish eighth, is it?” said Ford, referring to predictions by some bookmakers and journalists at the start of term.

“We’re not stopping here, though. We’ve lost a couple of games that we should not have lost and there’s only one way to put that right, which is to carry on winning games, and that’s what we’re looking at doing.”

The agonising midweek defeat to North Wales meant the Knights went into the weekend seeking three points from their last three games to be sure of a top-five berth, but Rochdale’s defeat to Keighley means the two collected against Hemel are effectively enough.

On securing a play-off place, Ford said: “A couple of the lads, like Ryan Mallinder and Pat Smith, have mentioned it, but I don’t really look at league tables and fixture lists.

“We always expected to make the play-offs so it’s no surprise, but what’s important now is we find form, fluidity and consistency.

“The pressure is on me to find the best combinations, which is difficult as we have so many good players.”

Leaders Oldham are four points clear at the top and Ford reckons they and Swinton are the biggest threats in the play-offs, in which two promotion places are up for grabs. First host second for one of them, with the losers going into semi-finals along with third, fourth and fifth in a mini-competition for the second.

“Oldham are top for a reason – physically they’re the biggest and strongest team in the league and take some handling,” he said.

“Swinton, I’ve said all along, play rugby league how it should be played – they’re up there with us in that regard. They play an expansive brand which is great to watch and they’re improving at the right time.”

As it stands, Keighley and Swinton could still be knocked out of the top five, but that is unlikely, and, with Oldham and York virtually safe, it looks more like Rochdale, North Wales and Barrow are fighting it out for the last play-off berth. York’s last two games are against North Wales and Barrow.

Ford made several positional and personnel changes against Hemel.

He said of their display: “Bearing in mind we’ve just played three games in a week, I thought we were okay.

“The conditions hindered us and made it a leveller playing field as we couldn't really do what we normally do because of the wind, but the boys did well. Victory was never in doubt.

“There were one or two elements where we were inconsistent or lacking a bit of energy but I was happy with our defensive effort – the contacts were first-class - and one thing we did improve (compared to Thursday) was our kick pressure and that helped the team defend kicks much better.”

Nev Morrison received special praise after bouncing back from his first-half horror show against North Wales.

“The players were eager to get back out there which showed me they were fine mentally and were ready to represent the city again,” said Ford on how he had picked them up after Thursday’s disappointment.

“I was really pleased with the mental strength of the players to turn up and deliver.

“Nev’s bounced back well but I knew he would. It was a one-off 40-minute performance on Thursday and he showed what great character he’s got to come back and play at that standard.

“I was really pleased he got that try and how the boys reacted when he scored says a lot.”