YORK City Knights' play-off hopes may well have been boosted by fixture changes in their National League Two run-in, writes Peter Martini.

The club have switched the scheduled home game against Chorley Lynx on June 29 to an away fixture, with the reverse fixture on August 31 now being at Huntington Stadium.

The switch means Paul Broadbent's men face a difficult period this month of three consecutive away games, at high-riding Hunslet on June 15, Workington the week after and then Chorley.

It will also hamper the Knights' cash flow as they will now go without a home fixture for six weeks, with those three away games being sandwiched by blank weekends due to the Arriva Trains Cup semi-finals and final. The next home match following last week's impressive 40-2 defeat of Swinton will now be against current leaders Keighley on July 13.

However, the Evening Press believes the Knights are comfortably in the black due to excellent sponsorship and big crowds, and the benefits gleaned from the switch should outweigh the costs as it means the Knights will finish the season with three consecutive home games, against Workington, Chorley and Hunslet.

Ferres said: "The disadvantage is the cash-flow (this month) because we've got a while before our next home game, but that will be tempered later when we have three home games at the end of the season.

"There is also the added possibility that if we are in a position come the end of the season to be challenging for a top-six position, we've got a stronger chance of getting results from those last three games at home."

Furthermore, that last fixture against the Hawks, scheduled for September 7, has now been moved forward to Friday, September 5, with a 7.30pm kick off. This is because the Huntington Stadium track has been booked for an athletics meeting on the Sunday.

The potential benefit for the Knights of this switch is the fact evening kick-offs are usually more of a disadvantage for visiting teams. However, Hunslet do not have to travel far and both they and the Rugby Football League have accepted the switch, even though it means the final round of matches, which could affect final league positions, will not all be played at the same time.

"We had a good response from fans when we last staged an evening game (the Good Friday fixture against Gateshead) and hopefully they will turn up in numbers again," said Ferres.

"The RFL have not said it is a problem and I don't buy into the idea that it is an issue if we're not playing at the same time as other teams."

Updated: 11:14 Saturday, June 07, 2003