YORK City Knights coach Mick Cook said his players were bearing the fruits of hard labour after his side stormed to the top of LHF Healthplan National League Two thanks to a record-breaking display.

Dewsbury visited Huntington Stadium yesterday as undefeated league leaders but were brushed aside in sensational style.

The 74-12 scoreline was the Knights' biggest win since the club was formed, their biggest points-tally and comprised their most tries in a match, 13, while Jon Liddell booted a penalty and ten conversions to equal Danny Brough's most-goals-in-a-match record, set in their first season of 2003.

Said Cook: "We don't have the intention of breaking highest-score records. I'd sooner break tries conceded records, but with the quality in the side we're always going to score tries, and that's all down to the blokes.

"If they keep working hard for each other, who knows what will happen."

It was the Knights' fourth win on the trot, with the three victories in the league getting bigger each time and amassing 182 points.

"We need to find consistency and we've done that for the last two weeks," said Cook. "The players have earned it. They've worked tremendously hard for each other in training and on the pitch.

"Our defensive work was pretty good, we shut down their chances, and we also worked hard in attack, pushed up in numbers and scored some quality tries.

"We knew Dewsbury would be a massive challenge on the field and in the title race. The fact they were top added a bit more spice for the lads but we had to get our performance right.

"I was confident we could win but if you look at the quality in their side you couldn't really expect to beat them by 70 points.

"We knew we had to contain them and stop them playing and our blokes did a pretty good job."

Cook had special praise for second-row Ian Kirke, who scored twice including a length-of-the-field try, and prop Yusuf Sozi, who has blasted back to form and also crossed twice.

Said Cook: "Kirkey reckoned he caught the ball in the Monks Cross car park, dodged the cars and finished his sprint at the far end. It was a great try. I didn't think he had the legs but he showed a clean pair of heels. He carried the ball well all game and he deserved it.

"I'm really pleased for Yusuf. We asked him for consistency and his last three games have been pretty consistent. He's run good lines and caused damage and he's a handful to pull down."

Updated: 09:45 Monday, April 25, 2005