JAMES Ford has insisted his York City Knights side will remain humble and hard-working for as long as he is at the helm.

Ford was also keen to stress that the team must retain such an ethic for tomorrow's visit of Betfred Championship rivals Swinton Lions.

As a League One side last season, the Knights beat Swinton 26-12 at Bootham Crescent in the Challenge Cup, while a look at the Championship table might suggest that the fourth-placed Knights would be favourites against a Swinton team who won their first game of the season just last week.

But this will have no bearing on how York approach the game, boss Ford says.

With the Knights' 2017 League One defeat at Oxford following the club's near-demise at the end of the previous year a case in point, Ford has stressed that his side will keep their feet firmly on the ground.

"Supporters’ expectations will keep rising while we’re doing well," he said. "But it’s important that we remain humble, focused, working hard and turn up and give everything we’ve got. That will be the case for as long as I'm in charge."

On last season's victory on home turf surrounded by snow, Ford said: "The conditions on that day were very challenging and it will be significantly different this weekend.

"Last year counts for nothing. We've need to focus on our preparation this week, making sure we get the details right."

He added: "As we’ve seen, Swinton are good on the ball and if we don’t turn up with the right defensive attitude, they’re capable of posting points and winning the game.

"They’re a very useful side in attack. I’ve watched them on a number of occasions and enjoyed watching them.

"They shape up early, have lots of variation and they’re not afraid of chancing their arm. We’ll have to be at our very best to deal with the skill and variation they’ve got."