YORK City Knights boss James Ford hailed a performance of “remarkable improvement” from Connor Robinson after his side bounced back from their late defeat at Keighley to see off Workington Town at Bootham Crescent.

The 28-18 victory kept Ford’s troops fourth in Kingstone Press League One, with a four-point buffer to sixth place in the race for the top-five play-offs, with four games of the Super 8s to go.

And stand-off Robinson – one of several players to underperform at Cougar Park - was at the forefront of the win, having played over an hour as the Knights’ sole half-back after Harry Tyson-Wilson went off injured.

Stoic defence at key times was also vital to the victory for a much-shuffled team which included two debutants in Jordan Cox and Ross Osborne, plus Ben Dent in his first outing since April.

“I thought it was a good game between two good teams,” said Ford, the Cumbrian visitors having been much-improved on their previous visit, a 34-0 defeat just last month.

“Things were made more difficult with us picking up injuries. Playing with one half-back is a challenge and we had to move things around again in the second half after James Haynes went off.

“We were further stressed by some harsh (refereeing) calls at times.

“But we’d spoken all week about resilience and bouncing back, and our goal-line defence for 15-20 minutes was outstanding.

“We worked really hard for one another and you could just see the solidarity between the players to work hard for their mates.

“That’s the attitude we’ve got at this club and that’s what we will need for the rest of the season.”

On former Halifax playmaker Robinson, Ford said: “He showed remarkable improvement from last week. He kicked the ball more consistently where I wanted him to kick it, and he organised things on his own for 65 minutes.

“It was a real positive step and a much more mature performance from a half-back with a lot of potential.”

He added: “Obviously we were disappointed in our last performance and a couple of the boys copped a bit last Tuesday, but they worked really hard in training looking to rectify what went wrong and there were some remarkable improvements.

“They need to continue that for the rest of the season.”

Keighley’s shock come-from-behind draw with Toronto – a result which followed on from the Knights’ humbling of the Canadian full-timers a fortnight ago – means the Cougars, in sixth, remain only four points behind York in the table.

On the importance of the victory for the Knights’ hopes of finishing in the top five, Ford said: “We don’t want to think too far ahead, but we’re two from three (in the Super 8s) and the other was a two-point loss after our worst performance of the season.

“We’re 11 from our last 14 so we’re in good health.

“Two more wins should maybe get us in the top five, but we will take it a game at a time.”

Referee Nick Bennett came in for flak from the home fans at Bootham Crescent, especially when a few calls went the Cumbrians’ way at a crucial point of the second half with York 22-12 ahead.

A try for Town at that point could have changed the game but York’s defence withstood the pressure before a Robinson interception try made the game safer at 28-12 with 15 minutes to go.

Said Ford: “He (Bennett) was trying to let the game flow and not be a massive influence in making it stop-start.

“Long-term that’s a good strategy in creating a better spectacle but he missed a few things that seemed to go against us and put us under pressure.

“But it tested our resilience and those mental qualities can be important – that will stand us in good stead.”