The heat is on in the race for the LHF Healthplan National League Two title after results yesterday went the way of the top two leading Knights coach Mick Cook to warn against costly mistakes.

The Knights conjured up another solid performance in the heat of Manchester to win 32-16 - ironically similar to the 34-18 reverse at Huntington Stadium.

Third-placed Hunslet lost to Dewsbury in the other four-pointer, while Workington slipped to a 30-29 defeat at Gateshead to push them four points behind the leaders, and Swinton's last hopes were effectively KO'd by the Knights.

But with the Rams still only second by virtue of the Knights' impressive points difference, Cook was quick to rule out any margin of error in the remaining seven league games.

He said: "Because Dewsbury won, there's no room for error at all. The two points are imperative as well as the for and against points and we need to keep them going.

"If we can remain unbeaten until the end of the season, we will win the championship, it's as simple as that. But there are more challenges to come and there are going to be more games that are tougher than yesterday."

Cook praised the entire squad after a gruelling 80 minutes in searing conditions in front of an 802-strong crowd, all of which observed a minute's silence for those affected by the London bombings.

He said: "Matt Blaymire was terrific at full-back, scooping up their kicks all game and the entire back three did a real good job.

"John Smith played near-on 80 minutes switching from second row to prop and he made some inroads - you could go right through the whole team. We've got some tired blokes after that."

Ian Kirke also came in for praise while another strong performance from Jim Elston off the bench looks set to cause problems for team selection come the Gateshead clash in two weeks.

Added Cook: "Chris Levy had done a lot of work defensively and we saw there were a few cracks starting to appear so we sent him on to burst through them and he did.

"I've got some headaches on the way for Gateshead as we envisage having a near-enough full squad to choose from."

Updated: 12:16 Monday, July 11, 2005