HARD-RUNNING back-rower Josh Tonks reckons Friday night’s “magic” win at Newcastle sets York City Knights up perfectly for the upcoming iPro Sport Cup final – and their bid to make some club history.

Tonks was one of the heroes at Kingston Park as James Ford’s men saw off the in-form Thunder 36-4, out-playing French international Kevin Larroyer, the Hull KR Super League star brought in on duel-reg by the Tynesiders.

A crowd in excess of 3,000 watched Friday's game, a curtain-raiser to Super League’s Magic Weekend at the nearby St James’ Park, and a bumper attendance is expected on Saturday, too, as the Knights meet old rivals Keighley Cougars in the League One cup showdown, which kicks off the Championship’s Magic equivalent, the Summer Bash in Blackpool.

Aside play-offs, it will be York’s first knockout cup final appearance since 1978 - and victory would give them their first piece of KO silverware since 1936.

On Friday’s win, which followed three dropped points in the last two outings after a four-match winning start to the league campaign, Tonks said: “It was really good to get back to winning ways.

“I was not at Barrow (a 50-12 defeat) but we had an off day, while North Wales defended well against us (in a 16-16 draw), but in this one we really ground it out. The team spirit was really good.

“It sets us up well for next week.

“It was a bit of a scrappy game with it being really wet but we stuck in there and ground them down.

“We scored tries off the back of a lot of hard work. They were maybe not the fanciest of tries but you get your luck through working hard.”

Three - perhaps four - of those tries came directly from Thunder’s blunders on their own line, but Tonks said: “That was from our pressure – our line speed was good and our kick-chase was real hard.

“They were making errors from it and we were alive enough to poach a couple of tries.”

Tonks admitted being unaware it was 80 years since York’s last KO cup success, which came in the old Yorkshire Cup, the Dreadnoughts beating Wakefield 9-2 at Headingley.

Asked if that put more pressure on, he said: “Not really. We’re looking forward to it.

“It’s a big stage but it’s just another game we want to win. We’ve got to get in there and do what we do.

“It (to lift the trophy) is one of our goals this season. Every club wants to win as many pieces of silverware as they can, and we’re no different.”

The Knights beat Keighley in the Challenge Cup earlier in the season but, asked if that made them favourites this Saturday, Tonks said: “We’re two evenly matched sides. We’ve beaten them once already this year but that counts for nothing next week. I think it will be a really tight game.”

Tonks’ personal duel with Larroyer, meanwhile, was never more apparent than in the first half when the Frenchmen twice fouled the former Dewsbury Rams raider in successive hit-ups – firstly by hauling him around by the neck in the tackle and then meeting him with an outlawed shoulder charge.

In the very next hit-up from the second penalty, Tonks again ran straight and hard at the beefy Larroyer.

Asked if that was deliberate or simply by chance, Tonks said: “It was deliberate – you don’t like to back down.

“You’ve got to get up and take your carries. I don’t want anyone to get the better of me.”

Tonks was The Press man of the match on Friday, having also impressed in the draw with North Wales the previous weekend, when he was directly up against former Great Britain and England star Stephen Wild.

He added: “I always love playing against and testing myself against Super League players.

“It was tough last week with Stephen Wild and (also an ex-Super League and international ace) Stuart Reardon in front of me, and it was another tough one (on Friday) against another Super League player.

“I like to think I can try to get the better of them.”