YORK City Knights closed out their 2022 pre-season friendly matches with a 32-10 defeat to Betfred Super League giants Castleford Tigers at the LNER Community Stadium.

Here are five talking points from the game.

1. York City Knights appear well-tested for the visit of Featherstone Rovers

York could hardly have asked for much tougher opposition than the Castleford side they came up against.

This was a Tigers side featuring the likes of Jake Trueman, Niall Evalds and Jake Mamo among an array of others all desperate to impress new boss Lee Radford.

Cas' attack was ruthless in the first half but hopefully for York it is an experience they can learn from and proves more useful than again beating Betfred League One opposition.

2. Plenty of positives to take from second-half fightback

Head coach James Ford will have been heartened by his side's second 40 minutes, which they won, against an entirely new and refreshed Castleford 13.

York were the better side for long periods and could have scored more than two tries had half-back Liam Harris not twice have been sin-binned.

The combination play between Jamie Ellis and Matty Marsh also caught the eye as did the general fight showed by the Knights despite the scoreline.

3. Matty Marsh proves why he is so vital to this York side

Having missed the friendly victory over Midlands Hurricanes with coronavirus, Marsh made a welcome return to the fold for York.

Ford admitted before the Castleford game that the chance for teenager Myles Harrison to get some minutes against Midlands was unintentionally welcome given that he already knew all about the quality of Marsh.

But if it needed any further reinforcing, Marsh's skill were on fine display against the Tigers, particularly in the second half when he bagged the team's second try.

“Matty Marsh is a class act," enthused Ford.

"He’s dangerous, he’s quick, he’s got good feet, a good passing game and a good short kicking game.

“I thought he had a real strong game.”

4. A mixed first outing from Pauli Pauli

Also appearing for the first time this year was York's highest-profile off-season signing Pauli Pauli.

Signed from Salford Red Devils during the winter, the sight of seeing the former NRL forward in a York shirt was highly anticipated by many Knights fans.

The back-rower got supporters on the edge of their seat with a top-quality offload when surrounded by defenders in the first half and provided the assist for Will Oakes try.

An unsightly late tackle on Danny Richardson in the build-up to Cas' first try and his later limp off the field did however rather dampen his afternoon.

“If we can get him on the field and keep him on the field then I’m sure that he’ll be a real (good) acquisition for us,” Ford reflected afterwards.

5. More teething problems at the LNER Community Stadium

It was hard not to feel excited by the atmosphere inside the ground given that the LNER Azuma Stand was near full, with a large contingent arriving from Castleford.

In all likelihood, this was the highest-attended game at the new ground for a Knights match.

Unfortunately, as happened at every home match last year, the club did not announce an attendance.

York say that they do not trust the figures being provided by them by the York SMC.

The issue seems like a wasted opportunity as both parties could have celebrated the heightened crowd.