LINDSAY ANFIELD has said that York City Knights Ladies will relish their underdogs title ahead of Sunday’s Betfred Women’s Super League Grand Final against Leeds Rhinos (3.30pm).

York set up a final four clash with the reigning champions after last weekend’s 28-14 victory over Castleford Tigers.

But the Knights face a far tougher task next up against Leeds, who will be desperate to secure a place in the Grand Final for the third season in a row.

For York, a victory at St Helens’ Totally Wicked Stadium would put them in a first-ever Grand Final, having earned a maiden appearance in the Betfred Challenge Cup final earlier this season.

Having overseen a dramatic turnaround from the near-winless 2019 campaign, director of rugby Anfield is under no illusions about the size of the challenge her side faces to reach Emerald Headingley.

“It’s going to be a tough fixture, they’re the reigning champions,” said Anfield. "But we’ve got something to aim for now.

“It was 14-4 (to Leeds) last time. We’ve got to go after them and throw everything at them.

“If we do and we perform as I know that we can, then we can get to another final.

“We’re the underdogs, 100 per cent. But I’m happy with that title and I think that, at times, that suits us as a team. We’ll let Leeds be the favourites.

“We’ll have a big week in training this week and hopefully do the job at the weekend.”

Heading into last week’s match with Castleford, York were guaranteed a spot in the semi-finals, regardless of the result.

However Anfield stressed the importance of building some form leading into the business end of the season.

“We got the victory against Wigan but we didn’t play particularly well,” Anfield reflected.

“I thought that we performed against Castleford which was really pleasing going into this week against Leeds in the semis.

“It was all about the performance more than the points. It was about trying to put some of the stuff that we’ve been doing in training onto the field.

“To be able to do that was really pleasing for me.”

The game against Castleford was the Ladies’ second game as part of a double header with the men’s side, who earlier in the day ended their Betfred Championship campaign with a win over London Broncos.

Anfield was delighted with the large numbers that stayed to watch the Ladies team afterwards and hopes to see more double headers in the future.

“When the girls were walking to the changing rooms (during the men’s game), the fans were really vocal and during the game the fans were really vocal,” she said.

“That was amazing and hopefully in the seasons to come we’ll pick up a lot more support and get the fans following us.

“I’d definitely like to see more double headers, especially like Sunday, when the sun was shining and I presume the drinks were flowing, I assume they enjoyed staying behind to watch the women” laughed Anfield.

“So long as we put on an entertaining performance, because we are in entertainment at the end of the day, they will stay behind.”

When asked about the viability of having further double headers at the LNER Community Stadium, Anfield replied: “The club are 100 per cent behind the women which is the main thing.

“They want to promote us and obviously double headers are the way to go to get more fans in.

“Those occasions have been great.”