HEAD coach James Ford insisted there was more to come from his York City Knights troops after they returned to winning ways in style – recording their biggest victory of the season in thrashing Gloucestershire All Golds 56-10 at the Prince of Wales Stadium.

On-loan Hull FC centre Nick Rawsthorne led the try-scoring with four crackers while young dual-reg Hull KR stand-off Liam Harris was the architect behind much of the good work, coming especially to the fore after half-back partner Harry Tyson-Wilson hobbled off.

But while Ford was quick to laud their eye-catching performances and hail the effort in the pack, he reckoned there were still plenty of improvements in his evolving team as they look to climb into the Super 8s places in Kingstone Press League One after a hit-and-miss start to the campaign.

“I want to compliment the attitude of the boys. In four out of our last five performances the attitude has been first class,” he said, the one slip-up being the defeat at minnows Oxford a month ago.

“They’ve run hard, tackled hard and covered each other’s mistakes. They’ve played like a team with togetherness, and that’s been a feature of the teams I’ve put together.

“Once we get teams in corners we’re getting good transition into defence and our starting points have been good and our contacts have been aggressive.

“I’ve been critical of some of the new players (in that regard) but they’ve worked hard on it and improved it.”

But he added: “We’re capable of better than that.

“There were 20 minutes (in the first half, at 18-0 up) when we went a bit scratchy and invited the All Golds back into the game. We then had to work doubly hard to win it back.

“We’re an improving team but we’re getting closer.

“Good teams consistently do the small things really well. We need to keep improving in those really important areas. Successful seasons are built on the back of that.”

Harris scored a long-range individual try and kicked five goals while playing almost 50 minutes as the team’s sole half-back after scrum-half Tyson-Wilson departed with knee ligament damage – which is likely to rule him out for a month, according to initial diagnosis.

“He played half on his own and I thought he was outstanding,” said Ford.

“He’s got pace, good footwork, a willingness to run from half-back, and his organisation is coming on. His calmness and clarity with how he speaks and the plays he calls has been on the money.

“He could mature into a fantastic player.”

He added: “Nick Rawsthorne did some things that were pure class.

“He’s got the ability to beat people and the anticipation to sniff out opportunities.

“He has one of two things to tidy up but when he does that Hull FC will have a cracking player on their hands.”

Second-row Joe Batchelor, meanwhile, got the try-scoring started inside four minutes of his return from a month out with an ankle injury.

He was replaced by Brad Hey after the interval but Ford said that was only a precaution, giving praise to both his fit-again second-rows amid a domineering pack effort.

“It was great to get Joe out there,” said the head coach. “He’s a mature bloke and brings a lot of talk. He’s got a big future if he continues to work hard.

“Ed Smith sets the tone for us aggression-wise – his contacts were right up there.“

On loose-forward Tim Spears he said: “His talk, organisation, line speed – he’s an aggressive bloke by nature and when we get on the front foot he often leads it. But there were a number of outstanding candidates in there too.”

Ford added: “Ronan Dixon is carrying a few bumps but, for a 19-year-old prop, his first half was outstanding. I would be willing to part with £15 to watch a bloke run the ball in that hard.”