YORK City Knights coach James Ford says his players are ready to push on again after riding the storm in the Super 8s.

The Knights' opening fixture against Doncaster was called off due to a row over Bootham Crescent and the club was threatened with closure in the build-up to last weekend's second game at Toulouse.

Only 15 players made the trip to France as work commitments, family matters, walk-outs, and injuries ripped the heart - but not the soul - out of Ford's squad.

By comparison, the build-up to tomorrow's home clash with Barrow Raiders has been a walk in the park.

Apart from a brief spat over kick-off times, the Knights have been able to prepare for the game in relatively calm surrounds.

Owner John Guildford made plans to switch the game to Castleford before an agreement for a 2pm Sunday kick-off was reached with Barrow, City of York Council, York City FC, and the Rugby Football League.

Ford insists that his players are now in a far better state both mentally and physically to pick up the challenge of winning promotion from Kingstone Press League One.

“The uncertainty has been quite draining but we’re through that now and we can focus all our energies on the rest of the Super 8s," stressed Ford, whose players received a guard of honour from the opposition after a spirited 46-16 defeat in Toulouse.

“We’ll take a lot of positives from the Toulouse performance," he said. "Obviously no one wants to lose a game by 30 points - and we do need to look at what we can do better - but taking into account what the boys have been through, it was absolutely outstanding and that’s a really positive sign coming into this phase of the season.

“If teams are going to beat us, they’re going to have to work damn hard," he added. "Toulouse did, and were worthy winners on the day, but we’ve a full complement of players this week so we think we’ll be a little bit harder to handle."

Front rowers Brett Waller, Russ Spiers, Jack Anderson and halfback Danny Nicklas were all unable to make the trip to France last weekend due to work commitments.

Loan signing Brandon Westerman turned his back on the club, Harry Tyson-Wilson was recalled by Hull, hooker Kriss Brinning had a funeral to attend, and player/assistant coach Mark Applegarth was ruled out for personal reasons.

Ben Dent, meanwhile, suffered a neck injury in training and joined Austin Buchanan, Tyler Craig and long-term absentees Micky Learmonth, Ross Divorty and Ryan Mallinder on the injury list.

Just to make matters worse, the Knights picked up further injuries against Toulouse and it remains to be seen whether Adam Dent (eye socket) or Rich Wilkinson (arm) have recovered sufficiently to return to action.

James Haynes, who played for the first time in 12 months after reconstructive knee surgery, may be rested.

Opponents Barrow have won five games in a row and Ford is keen to gain revenge for a 50-12 defeat three months ago when his side were under-strength.

“They’ve recruited well and it looks like they’ve changed their style a little bit. It will be a real tough game," said Ford. "They’ve still got that physicality but have a little bit more football and discipline about them, which is probably one of the reasons why they’re winning a lot more games.”