PLAYERS' Player of the Year Scott Rhodes has called on York City Knights fans to be patient and continue backing the team to the hilt.

The stand-off, who was a runner-up in the LHF Healthplan National League Two Player of the Season awards last term, made an impressive comeback from closed season surgery in Sunday's 20-20 draw with Featherstone.

And while he was happy to get back to action, he reckoned there was room for improvement in the team and asked the fans to stick by them.

"On a personal note I was pleased, but pretty disappointed with the result," he told the Evening Press.

"I was itching to get out there and I'm pretty happy with the way I performed and obviously glad my shoulder held up.

"We showed a lot of character to come back at the end but we had a blip midway through and let in a couple of cheap tries.

"We've a lot of new players and it's early in the season. Last year and the year before it was patchy early on as well but with the mistakes we're making I'm sure (head coach) Mick Cook, the coaching staff and the players will get it right.

"The supporters have just got to be patient, it's not going to come together all at once. They've been brilliant so far and I'm sure they'll continue to give us excellent backing."

The Knights were denied a match-winning chance on Sunday by a refereeing call at the death when man-in-the-middle Steve Nicholson deemed Mark Cain had not played the ball properly, with the result virtually ending York's chance of progressing to the Northern Rail Cup knockout stages.

But Rhodes was not too critical of the official. "The referee gave that decision and you've got to take it on the chin," he said. "Referees see things differently to the players and he's given the decision. When we look at the video we'll know if it was right or not."

Updated: 09:52 Tuesday, March 08, 2005