YORK City Knights second-row star Joe Batchelor is on the radar of Super League leaders St Helens, The Press understands.

The top-flight big-guns had scouts at Bootham Crescent for the Knights' Betfred League One game against Keighley Cougars specifically to watch the 23-year-old - and he duly caught the eye with a brilliant 90-metre try.

That effort, early in the second half, helped to set up a 26-12 victory which continued York's winning form.

Head coach James Ford, pleased with the result if not the fluency of the performance, said he was aware of the interest in Batchelor from the elite end of the sport.

"It does not surprise me," he said. "He's a quality player, a fantastic athlete and a disciplined young man, and, most importantly, he has a fantastic attitude which makes him really coachable."

Batchelor, taught as a youngster by Ford at Wakefield College, is the brother of Wakefield Trinity back-rower James.

He was named The Press and the club's own Player of the Year at the end of 2017 after his first season in the Minster city after being plucked from minnows Coventry Bears, and has so far scored five tries in five outings this season.

Said Ford of his effort against Keighley: "How many teams in this division have a got a back-row who can pick a ball up at one end and go 90 metres to the other end?"

The Press understands that, regardless of current interest, any transfer would be unlikely before the end of this season.

Ford added: "It would be a shame for York to lose him but I would be delighted for him to play at the top level if and when the time is right."

Other tries against the Cougars came from captain Tim Spears, Jake Normington and Will Jubb, who earned praise for playing the full 80 minutes at hooker in the absence of Andy Ellis and long-term crock Harry Carter.

Connor Robinson also kicked four conversions and a penalty.

On the game as a whole, Ford said: "I'm pleased to get the win. It was a healthy crowd who again got behind the team.

"We were good enough to win the game but, if I'm honest, we were a long way off where we would like to be, in terms of execution in possession and organisation. We were just a bit off in a number of areas.

"We made a couple of line breaks out of 'D' but lost a bit of organisation in the set after that.

"There were lots of good individual efforts and there needed to be attitude in defence as Keighley did not go away. At 12-6 they probably thought they could put some pressure on us and we needed that resilience again.

"You've got to credit Keighley to hang in there and to get back. But you have to ask questions (of our players) about our discipline to be in the areas we need them to be in, to make better decisions and to communicate better so we're organised."

The Knights had planned to have Matty Marsh at half-back and Liam Salter at centre, but the dual-reg Hull KR pair were withdrawn by their parent club late on after their first team picked up injuries on Friday night.

But Ford said: "The late changes to the 17 is not an excuse. There are ups and downs with dual-reg. It was more because a lot of blokes (in the 17) were a bit off."