A MODEST Matty Marsh has credited the York City Knights forward pack for his four-try haul against Swinton Lions.

Marsh won man of the match as York thrashed Swinton 64-16 to seal their first Betfred Championship victory of the season.

Returning to the halves after injuries to Brendan O’Hagan and Joe Keyes, the 26-year-old scored four tries and assisted three more in a high-quality display.

Marsh, though, played down his own personal contribution and insisted that the praise should instead go to the hard work put in by the York forwards.

“That’s all credit to the other lads because I just finish them off after they put them on the plate for me, so all the credit goes to them,” said Marsh.

“Our middles get the roll on for us and they make it easier for us out in the backs, so credit to them.

“Those sort of wins are massive for us but I think we were most pleased with how we played.

“We needed to get a performance like that under our belts ahead of the next few weeks.”

Having suffered defeats to Toulouse Olympique and Sheffield Eagles in rounds one and two of the Championship, Marsh expressed his delight at the response from the Knights against Swinton.

“The last few weeks, we haven’t performed how we’ve wanted to,” he said.

“But in that game, I thought we completed well in the first half and then the tries came off the back of that.

“It was a good performance for the majority of the game, but I think that in the last 20 minutes or so, we let them get a roll-on a bit, so that’s something that we need to work on.

“But we had already set our high standards earlier in the game.”

Indeed, York’s rapid start saw them race into a 34-0 lead after just half an hour. That was also more points than they managed against Toulouse, Sheffield and Wigan Warriors combined.

Marsh added: “It’s something that we’ve spoken about in the last few weeks is starting well and knocking those sets out in the first 20 minutes or so and the tries came in the end.

“In the last few weeks, we’ve tried to force it and really looked to get tries early but when you play like that, by knocking your sets off, the tries come in the end.

“In the past, we’ve maybe got over-excited and think that we have to score with every set.

“In this game, I think that we built into the game and then start scoring once we’ve won the energy battle.

“We set our platform with our defence. We defended well in that first 20 minutes and knocked their energy down and that’s when the tries started to come.”

So good was Marsh’s performance against Swinton, the question now for York head coach James Ford is whether he remains in the halves when O’Hagan and Keyes return to full fitness.

“We’ve had a few different combinations over the last couple of weeks,” continued the former Hull Kingston Rovers star.

“If I have to play half every week, I don’t mind. As long as I’m getting put in the team.

“I played as a half for the majority of my life and then I got put in at full-back, which is a similar sort of position.

“I just want to do a job for the team either way.

“One of the things we’ve spoken about this year is that massive competition for places. Everyone has got to be up to standard to get into the team.”