TWO-TIME Player of the Month Jason Golden will miss a crucial month in York City Knights' season after suffering a stress fracture to the top of his leg in yesterday's battling performance at Huddersfield.

The Knights earned praise aplenty after their Challenge Cup exit at the hands of the Super League club, with boss Mick Cook saying if they continue such form then that elusive first National League One victory will come quickly.

But they will have to do it in forthcoming four-pointers against fellow stragglers Batley and Oldham without back-rower Golden, the runaway Press/Collier Plant Hire Player of the Season leader, who was stretchered off midway through the first half. He is expected to be out for four to six weeks.

Cook said: "He's had an 'X'-ray and it shows a crack in the bone. He'll need to rest for a few days and we'll see how he responds to treatment.

"A lot of injuries we've sustained have been for four, six or eight weeks - it seems to be the theme of our season. It's not ideal but we have to deal with it and we will.

"Jason's been in outstanding form but I'm confident we've got enough quality players in the back row, like Dave Buckley, John Smith, Mark Blanchard and young Nathan Priestley. It's a big loss but we're okay in there and there's no panic."

Cook was proud of his side's valiant display yesterday in a 38-4 loss at the Galpharm Stadium.

"It was a tough game but the players really stood up to do themselves, the club and the supporters proud," he said.

"We're developing as a team and we need to be because we've got some important games coming up."

The Knights briefly led after Matt Blaymire's try and Cook said it was deserved in an even first half.

"We scored a good try and if we could have hung on for 65 minutes or so we would have won the game," he said, slightly tongue in cheek.

"It should have been a total mismatch (Super League full-timers v National League part-timers) but we got stuck in, forced some errors and put a few of their guys on their bums.

"It's been a good game for the players and hopefully we will take all the positives and get extra belief from it. If we can compete against players of this stature, we've got a good chance of cleaning teams up in NL1."

Huddersfield took command in the second half and forced many repeat sets with an excellent kicking game, but the Knights defended stoically.

Said Cook: "There was not a lot to choose between the sides in the first half. Huddersfield turned the screw (in the second) but we did not crumble.

"We stuck to what we were doing and defended very well for long periods. They got all those repeat sets and the players' legs must have felt like lead with the amount of defending they did. But we hung in there and played through for the full 80 minutes.

"Huddersfield are a good side with top quality players. I'm really proud of what the lads did. We could walk away from the match pretty proud. We played some good stuff and, okay we made some errors, but we defended really strongly.

"The lads are happy with their work and we've given them a pat on the back."

So did the watching John Kear, who coached Hull to the Cup last year, and Huddersfield boss Jon Sharp.

Kear said the Knights displayed "hearts of lions", while Sharp said they were "well-structured and well-coached" and forced a rethink of the Giants' tactics. He added: "I was really impressed with the way they came at."