JAMES FORD labelled York City Knights’ return to winning ways as a “step in the right direction”.

York convincingly defeated Swinton Lions 46-10 at the LNER Community Stadium to end a run of six straight defeats in the Betfred Championship.

The Knights brought back key players, such as Corey Johnson and Matty Marsh, to their spine and both made a huge impact to securing the victory and aiding York’s offence.

“I’m really pleased for the players and the supporters,” said head coach Ford. “I thought that we were very good value for the win, but it certainly wasn’t a perfect performance.

“I thought that we were very physical, we asked more questions with our shape, both half-backs were running threats and we both nines were good.

“I was pleased for them. On Tuesday though, I’d like to aim at being better and go after Sheffield.”

Having not recorded a Championship win since May, York are finally able to look up rather than down at the league table.

Asked whether there was a sense of relief afterwards, Ford replied: “I don’t know if relief is the right phrase.

“They (the players) knew that they were doing some things really well, and they also knew that they weren’t doing some things particularly well.

“But there was some justification for that and we had to ignore the noise around it and eventually address that justification. And I think you have seen a step in the right direction.”

As Ford rightly points out, this was not a perfect display by York, who were given a slight scare when Swinton scored after half-time. There are also far bigger challenges to come than a Lions side yet to win in the league so far this year.

Ford added: “I thought that we could have kicked the ball better, selected our offloads better and, on occasions, our discipline could have been better.

“That was disappointing because we know Swinton are dangerous when you give them a set start.

“They are less dangerous if you give them a kick return start and their opportunity to shift the ball, which is their strength, is reduced.

“We’ve got some improvements still in us and those lads are desperate to keep on improving and keep fighting for this season.”