YORK City Knights RLC have been recognised for their stunning achievements in their inaugural season by being named Club of the Year at the National League awards night.

The bash, at Queen's Hotel in Leeds last night, also brought prestigious individual honours for Knights duo Danny Brough and Trevor Krause.

Scrum-half Brough, 20, was the National League Two Young Player of the Year and loose-forward Krause was named in the NL2 'Dream Team'.

Knights chief executive Steve Ferres had high praise for the duo, but said the club award was "probably the most important as it shows what we've brought to the game in York".

"This means more to me than promotion because we set out to develop a vibrant community club and I think we've achieved that," Ferres told the Evening Press.

"It's absolutely fantastic, especially for the fans. Everybody has contributed. We've got a vibrant club and the city is buzzing again with talk of rugby league.

"We've brought credibility back to the professional game in York and we've shown to the city and the Rugby Football League that we can deliver and market a good product. A lot of effort has gone in and we've put ourselves on the map.

"We haven't finished the job, we've just started, but it's fantastic to pick up this reward.

"We've got to build on this. We can move forward and create a more vibrant club and more competitive team and something the city can be even more proud of."

He added: "I'd like to thank (majority shareholder) John Guildford and (chairman) Roger Dixon for their work and (main sponsors) Guildford Construction for helping us achieve what we've achieved. I also thank Arriva Trains, who sponsored the event and have also sponsored us this season. This can only further enhance our relationship."

Brough, who signed from Dewsbury in early May, was National League Two's top goal-kicker and points-scorer during the regular season with 91 goals, plus two drop goals, and 204 points. He also proved to be a wonderful play-maker.

He was pipped to the scrum-half slot in the 'Dream Team' by Hunslet's Phil Hasty, who was named Player of the Year.

Ferres said: "Danny thoroughly deserves his award. It's not about one man, it's about the whole squad, but Danny has been consistently good ever since he came to the club.

"He's got a big potential and I hope he fulfils it. This has given him a taste of what there is and I hope he grows with the club."

Aussie star Krause, already named the Evening Press/Collier Plant Hire Player of the Year for the Knights, was one of the most consistent performers in NL2, playing in all 31 of the club's games.

He started the season at scrum-half and went on to shine at both hooker and, for the majority of the league campaign, at loose-forward.

Ferres said: "Trevor has been outstanding. He's everything we expected him to be when we brought him to the club. He's one that has probably caught the eye of all the other teams as a consistently high performer week in week out and I'm delighted he's got recognition."

In addition to these awards, Knights winger-cum-full-back Alex Godfrey and new centre Mark Stewart have been named in the NL2 team of the month for September.

Winger Rob Kama and second-row Darren Callaghan made the shortlist with the latter just missing out for the second month in a row.

The player of the month was Keighley stand-off Paul Ashton.

Updated: 11:14 Wednesday, October 01, 2003