JAMES FORD believes that disruption in the build-up was telling in York City Knights’ performance against Whitehaven.

York ran out as 30-12 winners over Whitehaven, securing a fifth straight Betfred Championship victory in the process, but Ford did not rate the overall display in the same bracket as recent wins over Newcastle Thunder and Widnes Vikings.

The head coach pointed to a less-than-smooth week in which he was left with just 20 fit senior players to pick from.

“Do I think it was a better performance than Widnes, Newcastle or any game we’ve played recently? No,” assessed Ford.

“I thought we looked like a team that had had a little bit of disruption in their preparation.

“We’ve not been able to put the intensity into our training as we would normally like based on adjusting players’ training loads and a bit of illness and some unavailability here and there.

“But the important thing is that we’ve come through and won the game.”

The win keeps York third and opens up a three-point cushion in that position.

Ford added: “It’s great to get the win and continue the run that we’re currently on. Whitehaven presented a real tough challenge for us.

“They’ve got some big strong boys who carry the ball really well and we knew that they would not go away.

“They’re really dangerous on attacking transitions and when you add in the physicality they’ve got, they’re a fair side.”