York City Knights boss James Ford on near perfect performance in Widnes win

York City Knights head coach James Ford says that for all but 10 minutes of his side’s performance in their 32-6 Betfred Championship victory over Widnes Vikings, they executed his game plan to a tee.

Tries from Matty Marsh, Brendan O’Hagan and Brad Ward put the Knights into a 16-6 lead come the break, with 16 unanswered second half points making it a comfortable afternoon for the hosts come the final hooter.

And speaking to Prost international post-match at the LNER Community stadium, boss Ford was pleased with the vast majority of what he saw against the Vikings.

He said: “I thought it was a very good performance against a good side. Widnes are a really big club in the Championship, so for us to turn them over is a really good achievement.

“To do it in the manner that we did just made me so pleased and proud of the players, and of the direction that the club is going in.

“For 70 minutes, I saw our game model nailed to a very high level. I’m miserable at times though, so we will keep chasing the additional 10 minutes.

“There’s a team here but we have to manage our resources and be smart with it.”

York received some criticism following a Challenge Cup exit at Whitehaven last weekend with some questioning their effort levels during the tie.

But the man in charge believes that the Widnes win evidences why he had to change things around in Cumbria and that there is no question of the desire to win games amongst his squad.

“Last week, we copped some stick for prioritising this game [Widnes]. We’ve come out and shown what level of team we are today when we’re picking a nearly full-strength side.

“We are trying to compete with teams that are a little bit ahead of where we are at the moment. To help us get to where we want to get to, we have to develop some of our own players, and I will continue to select them as that’s how they improve.

“We have a thing at York about never giving up on anything. When people give up on stuff, that’s just not a York thing to do so I think for people to question the effort last week was bizarre.

“Today, the game has gone, we’ve already won it, and you’ve got Danny Kirmond chasing blokes back, Levi [Edwards] on debut chasing blokes back too.”

On Edwards – who is on loan from Super League club Leeds Rhinos – Ford had nothing but praise for his first performance in a Knights shirt, adding, “Widnes moved Ste Tyrer across [to combat Edwards on the edge].

“He is a quality player, an experienced one and a tough bloke, but you’d have to give that battle today to Levi. He’s not the biggest but he’s very powerful. I’ve really enjoyed working with him, he’s a great kid, and I look forward to doing so until the end of the season.”

Having exited the Challenge Cup, York now have a week off from match action and return on April 3 when they oncemore head up to Cumbria with Workington Town the opponents this time around.

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