YORK City Knights boss James Ford has backed his troops to become “some team this year” - once they improve their attacking exploits.

The Knights, despite being below their best with ball in hand, have gone joint-top of Betfred League One on points following their 26-16 win at Newcastle Thunder, the team’s fourth straight victory of the league campaign and sixth in all competitions.

But the result, like that at fellow high-fliers Doncaster last week, was again built on superb second-half defence rather than try-scoring feats, leaving Ford again praising the attitude and effort among his men but also calling for more consistency and better application with ball in hand.

“I thought it was a good game,” said Ford of the Kingston Park contest. “It was in the balance for a large period of the 80 minutes and Newcastle played their part in that.

“They had some good individual performances – Lewis Young was threatening, Tuoyo Egodo was strong, and a number of others had good games.

“As for my players, our attitude was superb towards hard work. Defensively we looked comfortable system-wise. We conceded a couple of scruffy tries but they did not open us up with Lewis Young’s pace or Tee Ritson’s pace. We defended pretty well.

“In possession, we’re not at the standards we’re aspiring to be at. We need to brush up on our skill, timing and execution.

“When we get the offensive side right, we will be some team.”

Bradford Bulls’ shock defeat at Workington saw Doncaster leapfrog them to the top of the standings on points-difference. The Knights also now have four wins from five – their sole loss coming to the Bulls on the opening day of the season.

Their points-difference is considerably worse, though, although all four of their victories have come in tight clashes against teams with play-off hopes of their own, including the Dons.

“Other teams we’re playing against us are good teams,” said Ford. “They do their homework as well, it’s not just us. You have to credit them. That said, we do need to be better with the ball.”

As for that second-half show, he said: “We were just defending our goal-line again. A couple of errors, then some good plays from Newcastle to get repeat sets, plus one or two soft penalties, all contributed.

“Newcastle put us under pressure. They were good for that 30-minute period and you have to credit them as well.

“It tested our resolve and our desire to work hard but, as we’ve seen in several games already this year, that’s instilled in us.

“When we tidy up our skill and execution, I’m really confident we will be some side this year.”

A number of York’s turnovers were a bit dubious, with referee Billy Pearson ignoring claims that Newcastle were ripping the ball out in the tackle and deeming the knock-ons were caused only by loose carries.

Ford said he wanted his players to not give the ref such decisions to make – something that was reiterated at half-time.

“We’ve spoken about walking off the mark at play-the-balls, about ball steals and about obstruction,” he explained.

“It’s hard for referees to get things right all the time and so we’ve spoken about taking him out of the equation and making sure we’re really tidy.

“I thought we could have been better in these areas and taken many of those decisions out of his hands.”

Of their half-time team talk – which took place on the pitch as the changing rooms “were about 90 degrees”, Ford added: “We wanted to pay more attention to our skill. There were a few losses (of the ball) in the ruck and the referee was lenient on that (possible reefing penalties).”

Ford, meanwhile, again had high praise for the growing travelling support.

“The fans were fantastic again,” he said. “It was almost like it was a home game.

“To see such a number clapping the boys off was superb and it would be great to see them again in huge numbers at Bootham Crescent next week and getting behind the boys.”