JAMES FORD lauded the huge improvement in attitude in his York City Knights team after they turned old rivals Doncaster over at Bootham Crescent.

York had lost at League One minnows Oxford last Sunday, with head coach Ford slating a lack of grit and mental strength.

But five days later he was saying the exact opposite after a 16-8 victory over the South Yorkshire promotion hopefuls got the Knights’ league campaign back on track, while also getting one over on former boss Gary Thornton.

“I was really proud of their energy and attitude in defence,” said Ford.

“I ripped into them maybe a bit too much on Tuesday (at training), on how they react to things not going their way.

“But I’ve told them how proud I am of how hard they’ve worked for me this week.”

Neither coach would have been happy with their teams’ handling and execution in attack, but Ford said attitude alone can win games, and he also praised the “match-winners” in his team after a late try by Nick Rawsthorne - set up when fit-again full-back Ash Robson turned defence into attack – sealed the win.

“It wasn’t pretty but sometimes it doesn’t have to be,” said Ford.

“We had momentum out of attitude, something we’ve had in abundance at this club (in Ford’s time as head coach).

“Tim Spears, Brad Hey, Ed Smith, Joe Porter – they went out with the attitude we’re used to seeing at this club, turning up with a whole heap of aggression in defence, and it was good enough to win.

“I always try to be honest with the players. When they’re good, I’ll tell them, and tell them how they’re good.

“This week we looked at things in review that weren’t good enough (in the Oxford match).

“When we went to Toulouse last season with 15 men and with only 12 men and played for 80 minutes and never gave up no matter what – that’s the attitude we have at this club.

“That attitude alone will win you a lot of games.”

On the handling errors, he said: “Occasionally that happens, but when it does happen you have to show attitude and fight in defence and make up for it, and we did that.

“There was probably a lot of anxiety going through both teams with both needing to bounce back (from poor defeats last Sunday).

“The first team that got into a rhythm had the best chance to win and that was us.

“We have match-winners across the board like Ash Robson, Nick Rawsthorne and Dee Foggin-Johnston, and they pulled something out of the bag when we needed it.”

He added: “How we set up to play was not so much about stripping them for numbers on the edges. We wanted to work hard to take something away from Doncaster’s attacking game. But Ash Robson is still a match-winner and he can make something out of nothing.

“The tap-20 that set up that try – that’s the quality he brings to this team.”

Referee Greg Dolan gave no fewer than 26 penalties during the match, in addition to blowing for handling mistakes.

Asked about the officiating, Ford said: “I thought Doncaster did some things that were disgraceful – I felt for GT (Thornton), as some of the stuff (discipline) their blokes served up was really poor.

“I thought the referee missed a couple of high shots as well on Dee, but it was a hard game to officiate.

“There were two sets of players getting into each other, but I think he did a fair job under a fair bit of pressure.”