YORK City Knights were beaten for the first time under Mick Cook last night - but the new coach was nevertheless upbeat.

The Knights, who won both their previous friendlies under Cook, lost 22-4 at Super League side Hull in their final pre-season outing before the season's big kick-off away to Castleford in the Northern Rail Cup on February 13.

However, Cook seemed happier with the way his squad looked last night than he had after those wins over Leeds Rhinos and Doncaster.

He said: "I don't think the result was important. The important factor was the way we defended, the commitment and the way the players stuck together under quite intense pressure from a very good Hull side. I thought it was outstanding at times.

"That was the hardest game so far. They were a very capable Hull side, there was a lot of first-teamers and they were all full-time players. We got beat on the floor a bit but I thought we competed for the 80 minutes."

Hull led 18-0 at half-time - old Knights favourite Danny Brough doing much of the damage with a try and three conversions - but the sides drew the second half 4-4, with York's try coming from Austin Buchanan, who had been linked with a move to Hull in the off-season.

Cook said: "We identified problems at half-time, we'd been a bit loose at the back, but the second half was a lot more solid.

"We did concede a few breaks but we scrambled very hard for each other.

"Players held their hands up last night in defence. We set a really good standard for ourselves to build on."

He added: "One thing I've learnt is that the spirit among the players is getting stronger. If that spirit wasn't there they would not have been capable of producing that sort of work.

"We did concede some tries but there were areas at the back of the ruck in which we know we should not have left that space."

As for the pre-season preparations as a whole, he said: "I'm happy with the result of these three games. It's showed us more about the players and I think we've improved over the three games in the areas we've been working on in training.

"I think we will be well set by the Castleford game. We will identify problems that let us down, work hard in training and improve them.

"I know the lads can't wait - they want to get stuck into the season."

Updated: 10:42 Thursday, January 27, 2005