YORK City Knights boss James Ford hailed his squad's ability to overcome "unfair" challenges after they sealed a top-four finish in Kingstone Press League One with two games to go - and with it home advantages in the Super 8s.

The Knights' 56-12 win over Gloucestershire All Golds at Bootham Crescent, coupled with results elsewhere, mean Ford's men stayed second in the table and cannot now finish the regular season lower than fourth.

That means that when the league splits into two for the Super 8s, they will get home advantage in four of the seven matches that decide the final league placings in the race for the play-offs.

Ford also reserved special praise for new boys Harry Tyson-Wilson, who scored a hat-trick and eight conversions, and Andy Smith, who enjoyed an impressive debut on his return to professional rugby league after a three-and-a-half-year absence.

In the regular season fixtures in which the teams play each other only once home or away, the Knights have had home advantage against promotion rivals only one - the win over Rochdale earlier this month. All the others have been away from home, including the upcoming last two games against leaders Toulouse and Keighley.

And Ford said: "To already finish in the top four, having only played one game against the top six at home given the unfair fixture list we were dealt, is a really good achievement.

"That one home game was also the third game in a week.

"For the boys to take those challenges in their stride and come through the other side shows what a strong group we've got.

"The top four are pretty evenly matched.

"Toulouse have only played two of the top teams away from home over in England, and one of them they drew (against Rochdale).

"It (home advantage) does make a difference, especially when the crowd get behind you like the York fans do."

Teenage Hull loanee half-back Tyson-Wilson, who notched 16 points on debut at Oxford last week, took his tally to 44 in two games with a man-of-the-match display.

Said Ford: "Harry was excellent. He's certainly a good player - he wouldn't be here if he wasn't.

"Hull think the world of him and, if he keeps his head on his shoulders and keeps working hard and trying to improve certain parts of his game, who knows where he will end up.

"That was a special performance."

Smith, the 31-year-old former Bradford Bulls star, was a half-time substitute on the wing, and his powerful hit-ups were a feature of the second stanza.

Said Ford: "I remember playing against Andy a long time ago and he certainly made an impression on me. I could not get out of his way fast enough.

"He knows the squad ethos and that it'd be a real tough ask to become a regular this season but he's happy to add to our environment and increase the competition for places.

"He knows what the game's about. He gets us on the front foot and he's a real handful, and the more he trains and the more games he gets, the better he will get.

"There were a lot of positive signs, especially considering he's not played for a number of years.

"He possibly could have finished that chance a bit better, but that's to be expected of someone who's not played for a while. The longer he gets out there the better he will be."

The Knights had raced 22-0 up in the opening quarter.

Said Ford: "One of the things we've been speaking about is how we start games. Too often we've come out and given teams too much opportunity to be in the game.

"For one reason or another our start has been off-tempo, off-beat a bit, but we came out magnificently and some of the contacts were fantastic. The structured play was good and the new fellas, Adam Robinson and Tommy Saxton, brought a bit of ad lib to our game off that structured play.

"Gloucestershire did probably get on top of us for one or two small periods in the game and we have to give them credit for that."