WHO says York City Knights can’t beat the League One big boys?

James Ford had railed in the week at criticisms his men were ‘flat-track bullies’ – good against the expansion new boys but soft when it came to meeting the play-off contenders.

The head coach admitted the jibe had “hurt him a little bit” and added the slight may have got to his squad as well.

If it had, what an emphatic answer they produced to dispatch the league leaders Rochdale 34-20 at Featherstone Rovers – a powerful performance built on a wonderful first-half of expansive rugby league and then a final 40 of gritty defence.

It was a result built on speed and power. Brad Nicholson and Mark Applegarth carved openings through the Rochdale defence, who were stunned by the speed of the Knights play.

In particular, they had no answer to York’s quick play-the-balls and, with Jordan Howden pulling the strings at scrum-half, they produced some superb tries as they claimed a big scalp.

Rochdale had won all three games on the road this season and Ford had demanded his men execute a carefully constructed game plan.

What he got was arguably the Knights most complete first half of the campaign, as they ran riot with a six try show.

It began early, in the fifth minute, when Pat Smith moved the ball left and Liam Cunningham slipped through a couple of flailing Rochdale tacklers and crashed over.

Dent’s attempted conversion was poor but it was no matter. Three minutes later, York had extended their lead.

It was a wonderful try, too. Jonny Presley’s cut out pass started it but it was Nev Morrison’s clever kick inside – releasing Ed Smith – which created it.

The second rower had Pat Smith in support on his left and the simplest of passes saw the hooker stroll in.

Ten minutes in, a 10-0 lead and Rochdale had yet to step into the Knights half.

They got back into the game just before the 20 minute mark with one of only two weak moments from the home team in the opening period.

Michael Channing, appearing on dual-reg with James Clare from Castleford, over-elaborated with the ball and, sensing how casual York had become, the visitors finally got out of neutral.

Danny Yates made the overlap and Alex Trumper got the score on the right. For all of the Knights’ dominance, when Paul Crook made the conversion, the lead was only 10-6.

At this stage, though, Ford’s men were only looking for more tries.

Clare, sitting on the wing, re-established the lead on 25 minutes – burrowing his way in the left corner in after taking a looping pass – and, barely 120 seconds later, Dent performed a savvy spin move after a superb off-load from Presley to drive under the posts.

When Channing, with Clare begging for a pass outside, went in himself on the half hour and Clare then added another try shortly after, the Knights were running rampant.

Inexplicably, they then gave Rochdale a sniff right on the hooter.

With no danger in the middle of the pitch, York lost possession and Yates beat Presley, following a hack forward by Ryan Smith, in a footrace to the line to make it 30-12 at the turnaround.

How crucial would that be?

The Hornets were certainly a different proposition coming down the hill after the break and, 12 minutes into the second half, they had more reward.

Yates again was at the heart of it.

On the last tackle, he went left with a cross-field kick. Perfectly weighted, it was parried backwards by Matty Dawson and Jack Ashworth swept in.

York were starting to get a little ragged, conceding penalties and, with a quarter of the game remaining, were just starting to hang on.

With their free-flowing rugby curtailed and niggling errors abounding, a boot through the defence set Dawson away and he touched down in the corner.

Seventeen minutes left and a lead cut to just ten points.

The Knights needed a moment of inspiration.

It came from Howden with 11 minutes remaining.

On the last tackle, the scrum-half didn’t strike the expected up-and-under but lofted a little kick over the top of the Rochdale defence that had all the Hornets turning.

Drawing the mistake, it gave York another set of six deep in enemy territory.

They made the most of it when Dent dropped a shoulder and hammered his way over the try-line on the right-hand side to send the Knights into ecstasy.