MATTY MARSH insists that York City Knights have "still got a lot of improvements to make if we want to make a dent in the play-offs.”

York travel to Dewsbury Rams on Sunday (3pm) seeking back-to-back wins in the Betfred Championship following a 27-18 victory over Newcastle Thunder last time out.

That triumph at the Summer Bash ended a four-match losing streak to fellow top six sides Barrow Raiders, Halifax Panthers, Batley Bulldogs and Featherstone Rovers and saw the Knights re-establish an eight-point gap inside the play-offs.

James Ford's side were pushed close though by 10th-placed Newcastle, with the two points only confirmed after Danny Kirmond's late try with less than 10 minutes left.

With six games remaining until the play-offs, York will be eager to play their way into some form before the season's defining matches.

“I thought we played alright against Newcastle, but we’re still not at the standards that we want to be at," stressed full-back Marsh.

“It was good to get the win after the past four games but we’ve still got a lot of improvements to make if we want to make a dent in the play-offs.

“In review on Tuesday, we were looking at our defence, similarly to the Featherstone game (a 30-22 defeat), we conceded a couple of soft tries and the sort of tries that are preventable.

“We need to cut those out, that’s the main aim for this week, because it lets your opposition back in the game.

“Even though we didn’t play as we wanted to, the win was a good step in the right direction.

“Going into the play-offs, we need to build some more confidence and get our link-up play up to where it was at the start of the season.”

Marsh was York's stand-out player at Headingley last weekend, having a hand in four of his side's five tries.

The number one assisted both of Joe Brown's first-half scores and, in the second half, wrestled over the whitewash himself before beginning the move for James Glover's finish next to the sticks.

“I was reasonably happy," said a modest Marsh on his man-of-the-match display.

"On a couple of Newcastle’s tries, I could have done a lot better, especially the Ukuma Ta’ai try.

“It was just good to get back playing after a few weeks out, so to get a couple of assists and a try was nice.

“I just want to contribute to the team’s performance and get us back to how we should be playing going into the play-offs.”

The former Hull KR man had missed York's previous three matches having experienced "some light-headed dizzy spells" after last month's 24-16 defeat by Barrow.

“The doctors wanted to get my heart checked as a precaution, which I understood," Marsh revealed. "I’m fit now and I felt fine against Newcastle.”

Sixth-placed York this weekend face a Dewsbury side who have won just two of their 21 league matches this year and are currently six points adrift of safety.

“They’re not in the best form but whenever you go to Dewsbury’s ground it’s a tough game," Marsh said.

“They’ve built their team around being big and dominant through the middle on their small pitch, so we need to match that.

“We need to complete sets because a lot of the time you’re starting sets in your own 10 and 20.

"We need to run hard, tackle hard, complete our sets and hopefully the tries will follow off the back of that work.”