YORK City Knights boss James Ford hailed his teams ability to come through tight matches with victory after they did it again against Doncaster.

The Knights won 31-16 but the game was in the balance before two tries in the last two and a half minutes put it to bed.

It was a similar story seven days earlier against Newcastle, while Ford's troops also won three games by only two points earlier in the season, to set them up for their ongoing Betfred League One title scrap with favourites Bradford.

The Knights had trailed 4-0 but built leads of 13-6 and 19-10, only to be pegged back both times, prior to their late brace.

Asked if he was worried at any point, Ford said: "I was disappointed with conceding three or four penalties in possession, putting us under pressure.

"It tested our mental strength again and Doncaster are a good side who are capable of beating us, so yes I was a little bit."

But on the late double that sealed victory, Ben Cockayne creating one and scoring the other, Ford said: "I thought it was always coming.

"Doncaster are a good side and they kept finding ways to peg us back.

"But we've got that in us, managing to win these tight games - we've done it nearly all season."

He added: "Credit to Doncaster. We couldn't get them off our tails and they showed character to stay in the game.

"But the mental strength of my players and willingness to work for each other was great."

The game was only four minutes old when both sides were reduced to 12 men after dual-reg prop Josh Johnson and ex-Knights front-rower Russ Spiers were sent off for scrapping.

Ford reckoned yellow cards would have sufficed, saying: "I only saw a little bit of Russ and JJ having a bit of a dust up. I wouldn't want to get in the middle of them.

"To send them both off after five minutes is potentially a little harsh, unless something happened that I wasn't aware of."

York picked up an injury concern with Colton Roche withdrawn after his groin issue flared up.