“IT’S a good job we can defend.” That was head coach James Ford’s verdict after watching his York City Knights side hold on for a notable 20-12 victory over Keighley Cougars to reach the fifth round of the Ladbrokes Challenge Cup.

The game, billed pre-match as Paul March’s high-scoring attack against Ford’s mean defence, saw the Knights build a commanding 20-0 lead in the first half at Bootham Crescent before coming up against increasing pressure in the second - much of it invited on themselves by handling errors.

The result nevertheless made it four wins out of four for York this season, and got one over on a side among the bookies’ favourites for promotion from League One. It also put them into the hat for Tuesday night’s draw, at which stage some Super League clubs enter the competition.

Said Ford: “I said to the boys it’s a good job we can defend because we certainly gave Keighley enough opportunities to get right back in the game.

“We’ve beaten one of the big teams in League One but it almost feels like a loss because we have not hit our standards.

“I’m pleased we’ve got that mentality, though. We’re not just happy to win, we want to consistently improve.

“We were excellent in the first half on the back of some really ferocious contact in defence – that’s been excellent every week.

“We invited some pressure from the kick-off with a couple of errors but we showed resilience to defend it and get back into the game. Then when we got some tempo in there we looked excellent.

“There was lots of movement in good ball and I thought 20-0 at half-time should have been a little bit more - we could have taken more chances and been a bit more clinical.

“Keighley then fired into us in the second half and we’ve shown a lot of character and desire to win the game.

“Pressure was growing on the boys. They knew not to force the pass and try to take an extra second in the ruck, but momentum was turning against us, and we did a really good job in the end to hang on in there.

“We’ve got to give Keighley credit - they had more vigour and more line speed (after the break) – but we invited pressure with errors.

“Had we been clean and tidy we would not have been in that scenario.”

Both second-row Ed Smith and Richard Wilkinson – excellent in the first half at full-back –picked up ankle injuries, but Smith had to return to the fray after Josh Tonks departed with a head injury and Wilkinson was forced to continue, playing out on the wing, for the last ten minutes as York had no more interchanges left.

Ford was optimistic all three would be fit for Good Friday’s League One grudge match against Gary Thornton’s Doncaster.

The head coach added: “We were good in possession in the first half – we’re getting closer to where we want to be.

“We were good again in defence. We were only caught out by a couple of chancy offloads – if that’s the only way a team can break you down, the chances of them having a high completion rate is pretty low, unless you're playing North Queensland Cowboys.

“We got a bit loose and lost concentration in the second half but as a group they tried to rectify it.

“It’s a learning curve – and it’s nice to be on a learning curve and win.”

Cougars boss March, the former Knights player-coach, said: “Defensively we weren’t up to standard in the first 40. We talked about individual stuff in the sheds at half-time and said if we defend collectively we’d be a lot stronger in the second half.

“We did that but people are going to be talking about the first 40.

“Individually we’ve just got to work harder. The lads are disappointed and certain individuals need to pick themselves up and work even harder.

“We wanted to go through but we’ve got more important things to think about and that’s the league. We’ve taken a step in that direction with that second half and if we keep continue doing that we’ll be a better side for it.”