JAMES FORD hailed the execution of his York City Knights side after recording a 70-12 thrashing over Rochdale Hornets.

The dominant victory put the Knights into the sixth round of the Coral Challenge Cup, for the only second time since 2006, with Super League sides set to enter the draw at this stage.

York ran in 13 tries in total and Ford felt that the result showed how close his side had been from their best in previous matches, despite not being on the winning side in recent weeks.

“I’m really pleased for the players,” he said.

“Obviously, I see first-hand how much it means to them and how they are working before, during and after training at their games.

“And as I’ve said on a number of occasions this season, we’ve not been far off.

“We’ve performed pretty well, despite not getting what we wanted on a couple of occasions.

“And today I thought that we scored some really nice tries, we executed better than we have done and that was probably the difference between this performance and a number of others.

“I was really pleased at half-time. I thought that we ran hard, we played fast and that our shape was better coming out of yardage.

“We were disciplined in terms of sticking of finishing in corners and defending tough.

“Every time we got what we call a ’40-trap’, we scored from the next set.

“Our half-time message was clear. ‘Stick at it, we don’t need to change it, we don’t need to chase scores. We need to remain a tight side and one that’s trying to generate tempo and trying to grind everyone down.”

There had been question marks about York’s attack and, while not fully answered given they were facing League 1 opposition, Ford was hopeful that his players can take plenty of confidence from such a rout.

“We’re pleased to score the amount of points that we did and it’s never a negative to score 70 points,” added the head coach.

“We didn’t do that much differently with the ball, we just did it to a little bit (more) higher quality.

“We made more right decisions and our last pass was more accurate and in general our execution was a little bit better than it has been in previous weeks.

“I’ve spoken on a number of occasions to say that we’re not far away.

“Last week, we created 18 opportunities. We probably created around that today.

“The main stat is the scoreline and to be in front of the scoreline you’ve got to take them (opportunities).

“I’m pleased that we have done and it’ll really boost the team’s confidence and some of the individuals within it.”

Due to health and safety concerns at Bootham Crescent, the match was moved to Featherstone’s Millennium Stadium on Saturday.

“I think it’s great that the clubs have got such a positive relationship,” Ford added.

“I think that’s a really positive thing about our sport, clubs are willing to help each other and support one another.

“Obviously, we’re in a bit of a period at the minute where none of us have been here before.

“I think it’s fantastic that we’ve been able to draw upon our relationship with Featherstone and allow this game to go ahead.”

On Monday evening’s Cup draw, Ford added: “We just want somebody at home. Anybody at home would be great.

“We love playing at York, or even at Featherstone, our second home if you like!

“Anybody at home and, hopefully if we can get a really big side it can really boost (the club) and make Jon Flatman a happy man.”