BOSS James Ford reckons York City Knights fans can look forward to a “fantastic spectacle” should his side meet Swinton as expected in the League One play-off semi-final later this month.

The two teams are now all but guaranteed to finish third or fourth in the table - with York’s high placing against the odds in a season of off-field strife set to see Ford shortlisted for the division’s Coach of the Year award. The Press understands Player of the Year front-runner Greg Minikin is also a likely nomination for Young Player of the Year.

Whichever team finishes third will get home advantage, and York – who leapfrogged the Lions today thanks to their thrilling 30-28 revenge win at North Wales while John Duffy’s men were losing at Oldham - can secure that spot by beating Barrow in the last game of the regular season next week. They could yet catch Keighley in second, too, but the Cougars are huge favourites to finish with victory over Hemel.

Any home play-off should be played at Bootham Crescent assuming the belated switch to York City’s ground finally goes ahead.

“I think it will be a fantastic spectacle between two attack-minded teams,” said Ford of that tie.

“It’s 1-1 between us this season. John Duffy (Swinton coach) is doing a fantastic job over there and they play a great brand of rugby league.

“If it is Swinton, then we’re really looking forward to it.”

Ford also did not rule out North Wales yet playing a big part in the play-offs. They can still secure fifth place with victory at Newcastle next week, meaning they would face a semi-final against the losers of the promotion final, which is set to be between Oldham and Keighley.

“They can play enterprising, entertaining stuff and there’s quality in there,” he said of the Crusaders’ ranks. “They’re capable of going on to win this.”

Ford added of today’s ding-dong clash at the Racecourse Ground: “It was a high-quality game between two teams who are very capable of playing attacking rugby league and defending their goal-line.

“I bet everyone in the ground enjoyed it thoroughly, more so the York supporters than the North Wales supporters.

“I’m not taking anything away from North Wales – they’re a really good team who are really well coached and have some outstanding players. But I just thought our kicking game in the first half helped to get them back into the game when we were looking on top.

“We had talked about keeping them pinned back but our kicking was not quite where it needed to be. We fixed it up a bit in the second half and, although they threw a lot at us, we showed character to make sure we got the points.”

It was Crusaders’ kicking game that had caused York problems in the reverse encounter two and a half weeks ago, errors under high kicks helping the Welshmen build a 28-0 first-half lead that night to set up their 30-28 win.

But Ford said: “We were much better in several areas than in the home match against them. Our kick pressure was better, our escorts were better and our back three dealt with their excellent kicking game very well.

“We’ve still got another level in us, definitely. But we’re already a hard team to beat and, when we get things right, we can dominate territorially really effectively.”

The Knights secured their revenge victory thanks to a controversial try by Kriss Brining – the Crusaders claimed he lost control in the act of grounding the ball although the hooker said it had been stripped from his grasp before he then touched it down. The difference between the teams, meanwhile, was again a penalty, this one awarded by a touch judge for a high tackle on Pat Smith. North Wales also had Christiaan Roets sin-binned late on for preventing a quick 20-metre restart but then were awarded a controversial try themselves.

“A couple of decisions went against us, but then their yellow card might have been harsh,” said Ford of the refereeing display.

“I’m not 100 per cent sure Kriss Brining’s try was a try but then they got that one at the other end when there was a clear knock-on, so we’ll take it. We’ll have that one and they can have their one.”