CAPTAIN Chris Clarkson believes that York City Knights are in a "great spot" as the Betfred Championship season heads into its second half.

York responded from last month's defeat to Halifax Panthers by recording wins away to Sheffield Eagles (34-14) and over London Broncos (36-34) last week.

As a result, the Knights consolidated their position in third after 14 matches of the 27-round season, re-establishing their four-point lead above play-off rivals Halifax in the process.

Asked if he was happy with the first half of the season, Clarkson replied: “Definitely, we’re in a great spot.

"We scraped the win against London and we had a tough first half on Thursday (against Sheffield) but we’re getting the wins and that’s all that matters.

“We’re playing some good rugby and we’ve gelled really well as a squad since the start of the season.

“The goal was to build some relationships with each other and know how each other plays, especially when we’ve got players jumping into different positions, and we've done that.”

Against London, York trailed for long periods and only found themselves ahead for seven minutes of the 80.

The performance of the second-from-bottom Broncos, who have only won once all season, was a reminder of the strength of the Championship.

“It’s an amazing competition and an amazing league," enthused Clarkson. "As we saw against London, if you’re not quite on your game, every team can put a performance in and London did that, they’re a great team.

“And they went to Workington on Thursday and York on Sunday, which is a tough turnaround for them.

“We’re looking forward to next week against Widnes (Vikings) now which is another tough game. They’re a very good team, they’ve got some great players and on that 4G pitch, it’s a tough place to go to.

“But we’re really looking forward to it.”