IT was business as usual for York City Knights yesterday as they swept aside Dewsbury Rams without conceding a try to extend their winning sequence.

The Knights defence remained unbreached but for a 33rd minute penalty as they won 48-2 at the Ram Stadium to equal the seven-game winning streak of the promotion team of 20 years ago.

But Richard Agar shrugged off the achievement as simply 'business as usual' .

"It's not something we pay too much attention to," he said. "Although obviously the press and the people at the club will always be mindful of it. But it's something the players who have been part of it can be proud of and I hope we can go on extending it.

"We were saying in the changing room we are a very proud team with a proud bunch of players and I'm sure that if the record is going to come to an end, it will come to an end with a fight.

"Basically it's been business as usual for us. There have been some things going on that we have known about for quite a long time so it's not been turbulent for us and has been very much as normal.

"It's the first time we kept a team try-less and I thought defensively it was a proud, committed effort."

The Knights secured the win with a rampant second half showing that saw them shut out their fiery Ram counterparts in an impressive 42-0 showing, with Danny Brough - who ended up with a fine after reacting last time he was at Dewsbury - single-handedly scoring 20 of them.

Said Agar: "I didn't really think it was that dramatic a turn- around, to be honest. I just thought our execution improved and the game did get a little bit tidier.

"I thought our half-backs were outstanding. It was a game where they needed to show some patience because of the breeze and the spirit Dewsbury were showing in the first half.

"They needed to be patient and control the game and I thought they did that. They both played like people twice their own size and showed an awful lot of maturity not to get involved in any of the fracas in spite of one or two wind-ups. They had one or two run-ins last time we came here and I'm sure everybody was hoping for a repeat performance but they didn't get it and the boys played magnificently."

Agar was also full of praise for winger Austin Buchanan, who scored three quality tries including an 85-metre solo effort at the death.

He said: "I always thought he was a player that if we could get him in a Knights shirt he would very soon become a crowd favourite because he's a very exciting player. He's scored three tries today but what a lot of people don't realise is the stuff he does off the ball. His positional play is very good and he's always in the right position at the right time defensively."

Agar reiterated his 'no comment' stance on the situation with winger Alex Godfrey, who, it was last week revealed, has been banned for two years after failing a drugs test. Godfrey is appealing against the suspension.

Updated: 11:00 Monday, June 14, 2004