MARK Applegarth hailed the ‘grit, desire and character’ of his York Knights squad after they fought to a 20-16 victory over Hull FC on Thursday evening.
York recorded a third win in a row when beating Hull FC at a sun-soaked LNER Community Stadium, with tries coming from David Nofoaluma, Jon Bennison, Denive Balmforth and Nikau Williams.
For the Knights, the victory sees them surge up the Betfred Super League table with teams below them still to play, with York hitting a purple patch in their campaign.
Applegarth had huge pride in his players for their efforts in the heat, albeit admitting he also worried after a Hull FC period of pressure.
After steering into a two try lead in the first-half, Hull FC pulled ahead before the half-time break with tries through Aidan Sezer, Tom Briscoe and Joe Batchelor.
Applegarth confessed to feeling ‘filthy’ at the break, but was proud of his team’s response in the second-half to keep Hull FC to a try-less 40 minutes.
“I’m really proud of the character we showed,” Applegarth credited in his post-match press conference.
“I was filthy at half-time, I felt we invited Hull back into it from the water break in the first-half.
“Up until then, I felt that we were in control, and Hull were in control of the second-half of the first-half.
“I just thought we were dipping our toes in with our contact and our intent, a little bit flat.
“I challenged the lads for a response, and we got off to a perfect start after half-time.
“Those last 15 minutes, where we just seemed to be defending non-stop in our own half through a few unforced errors, we showed a load of grit, a load of desire and a load of character.
“If someone said to me what are York Knights about, I’d wish I could bottle that feeling and say there you go.”
That half-time break saw Hull FC lead by eight points, but with 40 minutes to go, it was still game on.
The next try was crucial in the clash, and thankfully it came York’s way as Balmforth stormed past numerous challenges to score against his parent club.
Asked what he said at half-time to inspire such a reaction, Applegarth admitted to challenging his team to provide that response.
He explained: “It was just real simple messages.
“I thought our discipline in yardage defence, when Hull were coming out of their half, we were gifting them easy outs there.
“We fixed our discipline up there and were a little bit sloppy with our contact.
“It was just about sticking to our systems, not switching off on certain things without getting too tactical, and to show a bit more of our intent going about our business.
“That first-half, the first 20 minutes, we had it.
“I just thought we lapsed off a little bit.
“The lads responded to that, did what they did and I thought we were absolutely outstanding.
“Hull have got some quality players in there, inviting a team that much possession onto your try line, it takes its toll.
“If you want to be a serious team in this league, you need to be able to defend your areas well.
“Hopefully we’ll get a bit of confidence from that.”
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