YORK City Knights will be sweating on the fitness of key playmaker Connor Robinson – as well as three other players – after the quartet exited the pre-season game against Hunslet Club Parkside prematurely.

League One Player of the Year Robinson suffered an ankle injury late on in the second half of the 34-4 victory and was swiftly taken off.

Prop Jack Blagbrough also damaged an ankle in the first half and did not go back on the field, while fellow front-rower Ronan Dixon picked up a hip problem and hooker Harry Carter a new calf issue on his return from injury.

The fixture was the first round of the pre-season Yorkshire Cup competition and none of the quartet is expected to play in the semi-finals next weekend. The extent of the injuries are not yet known.

Head coach James Ford said of the game: “The biggest concern for me is we’ve picked up four injuries.

“I don’t think any are long-term but we probably won’t risk them next week.”

The Knights went 34-0 up thanks to tries by Matty Marsh (2), Perry Whiteley, Brad Hey (2) and Marcus Stock, plus five Robinson conversions, before amateur outfit Parkside, the National Conference League champions, struck back late on through Kieran Murphy.

Ford said: “I thought Hunslet Parkside showed they’re a good side and why they went unbeaten last year in their competition. They’re clearly a well-coached side and they will get better as the season progresses.

“My team – we’ve used a lot of changes and that influences cohesion, but we scored six tries and had two questionably ruled out, and at this stage of the year that’s pleasing.

“It was not the complete performance but our execution was better than against Bradford (on Boxing Day) and I expect it to keep improving before the Toronto game."

The Knights kick off the season proper against the full-time Canadian outfit - the Championship favourites - on February 3.

Ford continued: “Contact-wise, defensively we were strong and the attitude was good.

“Our play fives could have been better but we have three or four weeks to work on things and make sure we’re ready for the first game (of the season).”

Parkside’s try came on the back of an interception from winger Micky Hoyle two minutes from time.

Asked if he was disappointed not to nil the amateurs, Ford said: “They worked hard and came up with a try. It’s not often you see a winger come that far infield but he’s come up with the intercept. We showed remarkable effort and character to chase back and tackle and we defended the set, but Hunslet have come up with a really tidy set-play and scored in the corner.”

He added of York’s display: “There were patches where I thought we were really good. We got on top but then went a bit sloppy and tried to force a pass or two.

“We’re obviously striving to be better. I don’t think it helps too much when you get things right for a period and dominate a side too much – you do tend to play a bit loose with the ball.”

Asked who impressed, Ford said: “There were some really good individual performances. I thought Matty Marsh was strong, Ash Robson did some good things, Jason Bass in the centres showed touches of class."