ANGER gave way to elation for one of the York City Knights' newest signings as he laid the foundations to quickly becoming a fans' favourite.

Winger Craig Farrell was one of three Hull KR players along with Adam Sullivan and Dean Andrews dispatched along the A1079 in exchange for much-wanted loose forward Damian Ball.

But he said playing his part in a winning performance against Barrow - and landing a debut try -- on Sunday soon tempered the shock and dismay at the sudden transfer.

The 22-year-old York St John student said: "I got a phone call on Wednesday morning basically telling me that they were swapping me, Dean and Sully for Damian Ball. So me and Dean spent all day Wednesday, all day Thursday and all day Friday trying to get everything sorted out.

"I was a little bit angry at first to be honest, because I didn't want to leave Hull, having been there for more than three years. But when we got everything sorted, we just had to look forward to it and not be bitter about things, so I'm not. And now I'm really happy here, especially after Sunday's performance."

The buzz about Farrell from Robins' supporters was that he would be one to watch in a York shirt and it didn't take long for the Huntington Stadium faithful to get behind him, chanting his name and roaring when he crossed for his debut try on 47 minutes.

He added: "We played really well on Sunday. We went forward and played really simply but really effectively and I'm really happy to be here, especially after scoring a try on my debut.

"The fans were brilliant as well, chanting my name and stuff. I had a really good day."

Scarborough-based Farrell was also confident of settling in without any major hitches.

He said: "I know quite a lot of the lads anyway. I'm really good mates with Chris Langley because I'm at university with him and I got on well with all the lads when I met them at training.

"I think we've all settled in straight away and everyone has made it quite easy for the three of us."

As for the rest of the season, Farrell is hoping to keep up his winning start.

He said: "My short term aim is to play every game for the rest of the season, get to the play-offs, hopefully get to the grand final and take it from there, I don't want to get too ahead of myself."

Updated: 11:11 Tuesday, August 03, 2004