JORDAN BALDWINSON believes York City Knights will need to “bring their ‘A’-game” if they are to defeat league leaders Featherstone Rovers this weekend.

York head into Sunday’s Betfred Championship fixture (7.30pm) at the Community Stadium with back-to-back wins over Swinton and Dewsbury under their belts.

Featherstone, meanwhile, will be hoping to extend their 100 per cent start. They have so far recorded victories over Batley, Swinton and Whitehaven, conceding just 38 in the process - the fewest in the division.

Knights prop forward Baldwinson knows all about the threat posed by Featherstone, where he racked up more than 75 appearances across three spells.

“It’ll be good to see a few of those familiar faces from Featherstone,” said Baldwinson. “It’s going to be a strange one with there being no fans because usually against Featherstone it’s hostile as their fans are really vocal.

“As you can see in their past results, they’re on fire, so we’re going to have to bring our ‘A’-game to beat them.

“But we will. We’ll turn up, we’ll do our best and make sure that we put everything into this week’s training and the boys will get together and hopefully have a real strong performance.”

York appear particularly well prepared for the task after showing both a free-flowing attack, in the 64-16 win at Swinton, and a hard-working mentality in defence, to overcome Dewsbury 30-20.

“We knew that Dewsbury were going to challenge us,” added Baldwinson. “In all fairness to Swinton, I don’t think they were on their game and we were. The scoreline kind of flattered us a bit.

“We knew that it was going to be a tough battle against Dewsbury and I think we needed that.

“We’ve got real good competition this week. I think that game will hold us in good stead for another physical battle.

“From (Dewsbury), there were a few things that we did well, but also a few things to fix up in training and make sure that we’re 100 per cent ready to go.”

The Dewsbury win recalled the run-in to the Championship play-offs in 2019, when York won a string of games by tight margins, including a four-point win over Featherstone at Bootham Crescent.

“In that season, it seemed like we could never win convincingly - we were always in last-minute games where we just clinched it,” recalled the ex-Leeds Rhinos forward.

“Against Dewsbury, it kind of reflected that season a little bit. We don’t mind that though. We’re a tough-working team and we don’t care how we win so long as we win. That’s the main thing for us, those two points.”

While traditionally a front-rower, Baldwinson may again feature at loose forward, as he did against Dewsbury. It is a role he says he is happy to continue in for the team.

“It’s a little bit different,” admitted the 26-year-old. “I don’t really mind (where I play), so long as I’m in the middle.

“Fordy said to me, ‘I want you to pass a little bit more but at the same time mix it up and make sure that you carry hard and direct’.

“I think it kind of depends on what type of game it is and what your half-backs say. I enjoyed it. I do enjoy a backline carry and getting ripped in.

“It was also nice to go through a few of the prettier things like passing it round the back and tipping it on to Ronan (Dixon).

“I’ll play anywhere. If Fordy wants me to play on the wing, I’ll play on the wing.”