CHRIS CLARKSON believes that York City Knights are improving with each week and that results will soon reflect their continuous development.

York have won two of their five matches in the Betfred Championship this year, having beaten Swinton Lions and Dewsbury Rams but fallen short against Toulouse Olympique, Sheffield Eagles and, most recently, Featherstone Rovers.

The Knights’ squad is still relatively new given the number of recruits brought in over the past two years and their relatively limited matches thus far.

Progress has been evident on the field over recent weeks and, one could easily argue, that the performance in the 16-12 defeat to Featherstone - lost only by a late runaway try after a York drop goal attempt that was charged down - was better than seen in previous wins.

“I think that we are improving every week. We learn from our mistakes and we will learn from that too,” said Clarkson of the Featherstone clash.

“We started the game a little bit slow, but we’ve had some battles against really good teams and I think that it will drop our way soon.”

This year has been different on a personal level for Clarkson, who was made captain by head coach James Ford.

Clarkson said: “I’m loving it and I’m really happy that Fordy has given me that opportunity. It’s letting me grow, not only as a player but as a person too.

“I’ve always been in that leadership group, but it’s something that I’m getting real confidence from and I hope that I can spur the lads on.

“(In practice) there’s not a huge difference. I’m not a talkative captain, I like to think about what I say and I’d like to think that what I do say comes across well.”