JAMES FORD believes his side were several levels away from their best as they won 34-6 against Oldham at the LNER Community Stadium.

As fans entered the new ground for the first time it opened, York were unable to reach their high standards, particularly in the first half.

Both sides were guilty of coming up with excessive mistakes in an error-strewn first period that finished level at 6-6.

The sending off of Oldham’s Tom Nisbet on the stroke of half-time handed the Knights the numerical advantage in the second half, to which they duly capitalised by scoring 28 unanswered points.

“Credit to Oldham, I thought they came with some aggression and got right into us. But I thought we invited that pressure,” reflected Ford.

“We did everything we spoke about not doing in terms of sloppy errors, penalties, poor transitions, play fives not being good enough.

“If you come up with five or six of them, you’re really putting yourself under the pump.

“You can’t do that at this level and expect to be out in front. We’re playing against decent or good sides, so we need to get better. But it’s only right to point Oldham’s effort and endeavour.

“And, I thought to the lads’ credit, they worked really hard and looked really solid defending the goal-line, but they needed to do.”

The Knights scored five tries without reply in the second half and found some rhythm in attack, especially in the final quarter, .

Ford insists that he will expects far more from his side and called for far more consistency from his side.

“We were better, but I still don’t think that’s anywhere near the level that we’re capable of” he said of the second 40 minutes.

“We have got some really good players and we have got some really good combinations and we need to find a way to get them to play well for 60 to 80 minutes.

“If we do that, I’ll get off their backs and until we’re at that level, I won’t."