HEAD coach James Ford insists York City Knights cannot afford to take expansion clubs lightly as they prepare for Sunday's banana-skin trip to surprise package Gloucestershire All Golds.

Ford's troops have already slipped up this season to a team from outside rugby league's heartlands, having thrown away a 28-18 lead to fall 35-28 at minnows Oxford a month ago.

And the ever-improving All Golds have already tripped some supposed big guns up too, having turned over both Workington and Keighley Cougars this term while also reaching the League One Cup semi-finals for the first time in their short history.

The Knights, of course, have lost at the Prince of Wales Stadium in the past too, Gary Thornton's class of 2014 crashing 24-22 in one of the first big upsets between traditional clubs and new-look outfits from the south.

York have since put more than 42 points past the All Golds in each of their five meetings since then but, asked if there is ever complacency these days against expansion clubs, Ford said: “Certainly not from within our camp.

“We have a lot of respect for expansion clubs. They’ve pulled off some impressive results and performances.

“We will go there and have to get our attitude right. The technical stuff is important but more importantly we need tenacity and energy and we can build on the back of that."

Asked if lessons had been learned from the Oxford reverse, Ford said: “The preparation that went into that trip in my opinion was good and we started the game well, but in the second half we made an abundance of errors.

"I was critical of our desire that day but since then I think we’ve turned a corner in that regard.

“It’s another long trip but that’s something we’ve got to deal with – we can’t and won’t use it as an excuse.

“We will go there well-prepared and produce a performance with a lot of attitude and tenacity within it.”

All Golds currently sit above York in the Kingstone Press League One table on points-difference, both with two wins and three defeats from five matches.

They have run Hunslet close, shocked Keighley 46-22 and won 30-22 at Workington in the League One Cup quarter-finals.

They also beat North Wales Crusaders in the Challenge Cup, only to lose to them in the League One Cup semis last week - albeit only on goals, both sides having notched six tries. North Wales have beaten the Knights in both the league and cup this term.

Asked if he was surprised by such form from the Cheltenham-based outfit, Ford, whose side had last weekend off, said: “I would not say their results are surprising.

"They’ve got two excellent coaches and some really talented individuals, and they do some good stuff with the ball.

“Both wingers are real handfuls. Mo Agoro is a good player and the left edge is particularly strong – Joe McClean (second-row) and Brad Kislingbury (centre) caused a lot of problems for North Wales last week.

“We’re going there expecting a very difficult game.

“At the same time, we’ve had three out of four performances that I’ve been really happy with. The tenacity and attitude against Rochdale, Doncaster and Barrow was excellent. We want to go there and make it four out of five as good teams consistently turn up with energy and desire.”