JAMES FORD insists that he has “not thought beyond” tomorrow’s clash against Barrow Raiders (3pm) ahead of a potentially season-defining month for York City Knights.

York are currently third in the Betfred Championship and face fellow play-off-sitting opposition for the next four weeks.

Sixth-placed Barrow are first up, before matches against Halifax Panthers (fifth), Batley Bulldogs (fourth) and Featherstone Rovers (second) come thick and fast later in July.

Head coach Ford was keen to stress that his full focus is on this weekend’s visitors to the LNER Community Stadium, Barrow, rather than any future opponents.

“I don’t know, to be honest,” replied Ford, when asked how crucial this month was. “I’ve not thought beyond this game against Barrow, who are a really good team.

“They probably weren’t at their best on Monday night against Halifax (losing 43-18) but Paul (Crarey) and his players will be really keen to rectify that. They’ll come to York really focused on us.

“I don’t even know who we’re playing after Barrow.

“We’re just focusing on them, getting our preparations and performances right and seeing if we can take another two points.”

Perhaps second only to Batley, Barrow arrive as the Championship’s surprise package of 2022.

Last year’s Betfred League One champions currently occupy the final play-off spot and find themselves above established second-tier play-off hopefuls Bradford Bulls, Sheffield Eagles and Widnes Vikings as well as full-time outfit Newcastle Thunder.

“There’s an air of unpredictability about Barrow,” assessed Ford. “They’ve got a couple of individuals in their side that I think are consistently unpredictable.

“Jarrod Sammut is probably the captain of that with some of the stuff he comes up. I don’t even know if he knows what he’s going to do with the ball.

“We’ll have to be really aware and switched on around him and expect anything.

“I’d say the vice-captain of unpredictability is Hakim Miloudi. He plays rugby league with such a confidence, like he’s playing in the park with his mates, and skips along the line, throws offloads, kicks the ball when he wants.

“At times, I’m sure he’ll be giving their coach a little bit of a migraine but at times, I’m sure he’s been an absolute delight to watch for the Barrow fans. You certainly couldn’t categorise him as robotic.

“They’ve got an awful lot of flair about them, so we’ll need to be good. We’ll need kick and defend well and make sure we’re on red alert mentally.

“When we’ve got the ball, we’ll execute our plan, as we always do, and try to nail it a little bit better than we did against Whitehaven.”

York have made three changes from the 21-man squad which beat Whitehaven 40-16 last time out.

Jacob Ogden and Will Oakes are back in after injury while Danny Kirmond returns after missing out last weekend due to a family bereavement. Myles Harrison, Brad Ward and Joe Porter drop out.

l York City Knights squad v Whitehaven: Marsh, Brown, Glover, Ogden, Oakes, O’Hagan, Ellis, Matongo, Jubb, Teanby, Clarkson, Pauli, Thompson, Dixon, Stock, Kirmond, Harris, Harrison, Towse, Michael, Ward, Edwards, Antrobus, Porter.