JAMES FORD admitted he will have some selection headaches for York City Knights’ opening match of the season after his side won their final friendly fixture.

The Knights came from 10-4 behind to beat Hull Under-23s 34-24 at Bootham Crescent, dominating the middle hour of the contest.

It was their first victory of 2017 after defeats to Championship big guns Featherstone and London Broncos, and head coach Ford reckoned it set them up nicely for the visit of North Wales Crusaders on Sunday in the first round of the League One Cup.

“I have some headaches for Sunday, but that’s a good thing,” he said. “You want that competition for places, and it’s up to me now to get the selection right.

“I will have a look at the tape and we’ll go from there, but there’s a good squad here and whatever 17 we pick will produce a good performance at the weekend.”

On the game overall, Ford said: “I was pleased to get the win, our first win of the year, and there were lots of positives.

“I thought we showed some good character. We didn’t start the game particularly well – we came up with too many errors and penalties to let the pressure off Hull.

“But we reacted really well to that. We showed at times that when we get into the groove we will be a tough team to beat.

“We’ve got some distance to travel, with our good ball fluidity for one, but it’s only our third game and that’s to be expected.”

Ford, having named 11 substitutes, changed most of the team for the second half and Hull came back from 28-10 down after 55 minutes to 28-24 after 74, threatening victory.

But York’s on-loan Hull KR hooker Will Jubb countered the fightback with the game’s final try.

Said Ford: “With the changes we made in the second half, regardless of who you bring on, it makes it harder. People have to get up to game speed and get their communication working, and you will always fall away a bit in certain areas, but it was important we didn’t overplay some people and also give other players an opportunity to show what they’ve got.”