YORK City Knights pulled off arguably the best victory of their history since reforming and head coach James Ford declared: “We can get better!”

Ford’s troops shocked Toronto Wolfpack – and the rugby league world – by beating the full-timers 26-16 at Bootham Crescent in front of the biggest Knights crowd since over 3,000 turned out for a televised match in 2009.

Tries by new boy Jake Butler-Fleming, man-of-the-match Liam Harris (2) and Connor Robinson, who also added four conversions and a penalty, sealed an amazing result which, while only keeping Ford’s men in fourth place in League One, put them right in the promotion frame with six games left of the Super 8s.

Ford lauded his players’ will to win as “immense”, yet he found fault in the display and backed them to improve even further.

“I was really pleased for the boys,” he said. “All of them were outstanding in terms of effort and desire. When times get tough, the will to win in these boys is immense.

“They get a hard time off us here but to come out and beat an undefeated full-time side – I hope all their families and people who know them are really proud. They deserve it.

“You don’t just turn up on a Sunday and pull something off like that. It’s about how they live their lives, how they train. They make sacrifices for me here, so I’m really pleased they’ve got such a result.”

He added: “There was a 20-minute period in there when we were miles off. I could not recognise us for a small period of the game. We will work on that. We want to be better and we will work hard on them.

“Every one of them wants to improve and work hard. They’ll walk in at training, sit there and ask, ‘What have you got for us?’ It’s an absolute pleasure.”

Asked if it was the best win in his time as coach, he said: “It would have to be up there if you look at their playing roster and how convincingly they’ve beaten teams.

“But ultimately it’s two points and we need to come in on Tuesday and be ready to work hard again.”

Ford also insisted there would be no comedown after this particular high.

“If we get turned over away at Keighley next week, it rules this win out,” he reasoned.

“The players need to enjoy this but on Tuesday we start again and prepare for next weekend. Keighley are a good team and will have a point to prove after (we beat them) last time.”

Ford’s team set the platform for victory with a superb first-half show and 18-0 interval lead, and dug in again in the second half after the Wolfpack threatened a comeback with two tries in three minutes after the resumption .

“It was a fantastic game,” he said. “I thought both teams played good rugby, with big contacts, playing at a good pace.

“We got a bit scratchy for 10 or 15 minutes in the second half and invited them back in. You have to praise the opposition when that happens – they’re doing things, having good line speed and flustering people’s decisions to create confusion and get a foothold in the game.

“I think Toronto went up a level and generated some tempo, and we made some rash decisions.

“Toronto, once they get momentum, are hard to handle. But the leadership and grit in people like Tim Spears was great in swinging things back in our favour.

“If you look at how they set up, they’ve got a very attacking philosophy but if you’re going to attack like that, pushing a pass, you’re going to make errors. We forced some errors and were good enough to capitalise.”

Toronto blew the Knights away in Canada, with a 10-try salvo in just 27 minutes setting up a 64-22 victory.

Asked if he feared his side would crumble here after two quickfire tries at the start of the second half cut their lead to 18-12 and silenced the crowd, Ford said: “We were prepared for that. They’ve done that to every team, posting tries back-to-back.

“You need to be mentally strong and maybe adjust your style of play for four or five minutes. If you can go tight for five minutes, that can give you a foothold. They’re a fairly indisciplined team and they make errors so you can get a chance.”