HEAD coach James Ford has demanded York City Knights’ young guns “improve immediately” after his team just scraped past minnows South Wales Ironmen to get off the mark in Kingstone Press League One.

Regardless of defeats to North Wales in the League One Cup, after extra time, and at Barrow in the league opener, York were expected to see off traditional whipping boys South Wales at Bootham Crescent.

However, after building a 26-10 lead they had to hold on to a 26-24 victory amid growing anxiety against a side tipped to finish bottom of the table.

Ford was happy with some performances, but they mainly came from the old heads in the middle of the pitch such as man-of-the-match prop Adam Robinson and new hooker Andy Ellis. And, with other signings potentially on the horizon, the head coach suggested time was running out for some of the new kids to show they are up to standard.

“Before an alcoholic or anyone with an addiction can move forward, you need to be reflective and understand where you are,” he said.

“It’s the same kind of thing for some of these young players. They need to know what level they’re at.

“We’ve just beaten South Wales by two points at home and their kicker missed some conversions.

“South Wales have improved and I don’t want to be disrespectful, but they’re probably favourites to come last and we’ve struggled to beat them.

“The players need to be accurate in their own reflections of where they’re at.

“What we’re churning out is not good enough. Some players need to realise where we are before we can improve.”

He added: “We’re not a good enough team to take anyone lightly.

“We had a bloke turn up late, our warm-up lacked intensity and energy, it was a sloppy start and that just continued through the game.

“South Wales have improved but, to be brutally honest, they weren’t great, were they. We were slightly better and that’s as fair as I can be.

“There were some good individual efforts. The forward pack were good but our execution across the back line was awful.

“We made some individual mistakes, anxiety set in and we made some rubbish decisions. We put ourselves under pressure in ways that are synonymous with a young team. The onus is on these young players to improve – and improve quickly.”

On new boys Ellis, the former Hull KR, Harlequins and Featherstone star, and dual-reg forward George Milton, Ford said: “Andy Ellis was composed. You can see him communicating to the young lads and keeping people calm.

“Fortunately it was enough to get us through.

“We relied heavily on people like him, Tim Spears, Adam Robinson and Ed Smith.

“I thought George did okay. There were a couple of nice passes and he was decent in contact.

“I don’t think the forward pack was far off. They gave us a platform but the level of decision-making and execution in the backs was appalling. From one to seven it was not good enough.”

York lost star full-back Ash Robson to a thigh strain in the first half – and they will hope he isn’t out for long.

Ford said: “That massively affected us. We moved Tommy Brierley to full-back but we looked disjointed and did not look threatening when we moved the ball in their half.

“It’s not an excuse. Everybody knows the systems and we still have more than enough ability, experience and skill to put in a performance much better than that.

“We’re just miles off.

“Some of these young players need to improve immediately. What they’re churning out is not good enough.”