YORK City Knights marked their first game in front of fans at the LNER Community Stadium with a 34-6 win over Oldham.

Here are five things we learnt from the game.

1. The return of supporters makes a huge difference

We have become accustomed to live sport taking place without supporters in the ground since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.

Fake crowd noise has, regrettably, become the default background to our viewing experience.

How relieving it was then to witness 1,000 passionate York City Knights fans make their way into the club's new ground for the first time since it opened and for the first time since the pandemic's outbreak.

The reception for the players as they made their way out for the warm-up felt like a really significant moment as fans and team were reunited.

Spirits were evidently high and were perhaps best symbolised that the supporter dressed head to toe as Superman and wearing a mask of chairman Jon Flatman.

All being well, it is hoped that there is another large increase in the stadium's capacity as the weeks progress and it would be perfect if this could come in time with the Knights' 1895 Cup semi-final game with Swinton Lions on June 6.

With a cup final at Wembley Stadium on offer for the winner, one would hope for an even better atmosphere.

2. Producing a complete performance remains the target for York

York's win over Oldham felt very similar to their win at Widnes Vikings last week.

In Merseyside, they trailed 14-8 at half time after a first half that contained far too many errors and incomplete sets.

But, York responded in the second half to score 27 unanswered points. Taking little away from that performance, they were, it should be pointed out, aided by the lack of Widnes forwards in their 17.

Again, against Oldham, an error-strew opening 40 minutes saw the Knights go into the sheds at 6-6, only for the hosts to respond by winning the second half 28-0.

Without wishing to dismiss York's comeback, they benefitted from Tom Nisbet's sending off before half time.

The big tests for the Knights begin from this weekend when they travel to Bradford Bulls.

If the Knights can stretch those second-half displays throughout an 80 minutes, they will be very tough to beat, but those prolonged below-par periods must be eradicated when they travel to the league's better sides.

3. Another stellar performance by Sam Scott

Scott backed up his strong display against Widnes with another quality performance at the weekend.

The back rower assisted Danny Washbrook with a brilliant offload close to the line against Widnes and against Oldham he managed to tee up Riley Dean with another classy offload.

That Danny Kirmond and Washbrook are currently out of the side is further testament to the form of Scott and loanee James McDonnell.

4. More good news on York's injury front

York coach James Ford reported no major injury concerns after the Oldham win and went on to reveal that he is hopeful about including Brendan O'Hagan and Jack Teanby this week.

Having been plagued by injuries this year, thankfully things are beginning to look up for the Knights.

5. Do not write off Oldham

Oldham would probably have been tipped by many to be relegated this year but they showed plenty of fight and determination against York that should give their supporters cause for optimism.

It would have been interesting to see how they fared with 13 men on the field for the full game.

Oldham will likely be fighting against relegation this year but a return to League One is no certainty.