YORK City Knights boss James Ford has backed his troops to pull another top result out of the fire - despite going into a potential humdinger with a depleted squad.

The Knights, having already faced title favourites Bradford and Oldham this season, as well as play-off hopefuls Keighley, this time go to pacesetters Doncaster on Good Friday (3pm) for another early test of their own promotion credentials in Betfred League One.

They have so far picked up four points from six, losing to the Bulls only via a penalty on the final hooter, but, with so many absences, they will travel as underdogs against a red-hot Dons outfit who spent big in the off-season and currently top the table with three wins from three and a whopping 136 points scored.

Ford will be without full-back Ash Robson, hard-hitting prop Colton Roche - who has been kept back by parent club Huddersfield Giants for Easter - and potentially skipper Tim Spears and Player of the Year Joe Batchelor, with no dual-reg players from Hull KR to call on either.

He is well aware, too, of the Dons' early form.

But he declared: "If we can go there as busted as we are and turn them over, it shows what grit, desire and fight we've got.

"We will need to be as good as we were against Oldham and Bradford if we are to win. But this team is capable of pulling huge performances out."

Ford intimated the Dons will be much better opponents than the stoic Keighley side that were beaten 26-12 on Sunday.

"It will be different to the Keighley game," he reasoned.

"This is the best version of Doncaster we will have faced in my time in charge.

"Richard (Horne, Dons coach) went in there (last summer) and they instantly improved and became more organised defensively and offensively.

"It will be a real challenge for us. They're top of the league and rightly so. They have strong ball carriers and threats on the edges. Richard Owen (former Castleford and Wakefield full-back) will be keen to impress and his track record speaks for itself.

"They're also spoilt for choice in the halves. We're obviously aware of the threat Liam Harris poses and we will be prepared for that, and alongside him they have a number of quality options.

"We're coming up against quality and we need to be at our very best."

Asked how the Dons compared to relegated pair Bradford and Oldham, who are both keen to bounce straight back up, Ford said: "They're up there with them. We will need a performance."

Spears and Batchelor - who has scored five tries in five outings this season - both face late fitness tests.

Asked how big a blow it would be to be without them, Ford said: "They're two very good players aren't they. They'd be very good players for any side in this division.

"We hope both come through but there's always the chance people don't recover quite as fast as you would hope. It's the down side of the short turnaround between games (playing Sunday-Friday).

"To go into a game of this magnitude against a quality side like Doncaster - the team at the top of the league - and have one of those players out would make it a bigger challenge. To be missing both would make it an enormous challenge.

"However, we've got a great bunch who will rise to any challenge.

"We won't be the only team missing key players. We won't use that as an excuse. We've got talent throughout the squad and any injuries provide opportunities for someone else."