RESULTS don't matter in friendlies - especially when you lose - and it was by no means the big issue for York City Knights last night.

Coach Mick Cook shuffled his pack so that every player who hadn't started a game so far in pre-season got a chance from the off, while the unlimited subs rule, as is often the case, also affected the pattern.

Giving people game-time and building squad camaraderie was thus the aim, and it was no major downer to lose 22-4 to a Hull side which provided by far the Knights' sternest test of pre-season.

Maybe only half a dozen of their 19 players on duty are guaranteed first-choices for Super League, but a half-dozen more will be in the reckoning - such as former Knights hero Danny Brough - and the remainder are there or thereabouts.

It should come as no major surprise, therefore, that Cook remained upbeat despite his first loss in charge.

Apart from anything else, this was not York's first choice line-up either. And while there was little to shout about in terms of attacking success - and despite the seemingly subdued atmosphere given the size of the 3,674 crowd in relation to the size of the KC Stadium - there was no lack of passion from the Knights, rather a willingness to push themselves and their hosts.

York actually started the game the better, with Yusuf Sozi being held up beside an upright. But Hull upped the intensity and, as fate would have it, it was Brough who did much of the damage.

Looking bulkier and bigger for his few months as a full-timer, the half-back scored a try, had a hand - or rather a boot - in two more and added three conversions.

Firstly, York full-back Matt Blaymire lost a Brough bomb and from the scrum, the defence was stretched and a big overlap gave Richie Barnett a try in the corner.

Hull should have scored again when Paul McNicholas lost the ball over the line, though credit must be given to Knights winger Peter Fox for his speedy cover, before more incisive play, perhaps aided by a few missed tackles, put Brough through to the posts, Fox this time not quite making up the ground.

The Black and Whites soon got the ball back in York's half and they found a big hole for Danny Hill to score, Brough's third goal making it 18-0 at the break.

Hull's defence was a solid barrier but York kept plugging away and, after Chris Ross was denied by a fine cover tackle, the Knights did get on the scoreboard when Darren Callaghan's sharp pass put Austin Buchanan into the corner.

York were denied a second-half victory, though, as Brough's clever chip saw Graeme Horne touch down, but they could at least claim to have had the better half to round off a promising pre-season.

Knights: Blaymire, Fox, Potter, Ross, Buchanan, Liddell, Levy, Forsyth, Jackson, Sozi, McDowell, Ramsden, Cain. Subs (all used): Elston, Paterson, Sullivan, Smith, Callaghan, Kirke, P Thorman. Try: Buchanan 67.

Hull: Saxton, Blacklock, Horne, Dixon, Barnett, Brough, Lupton, Higgins, Swain, Bailey, Hill, McNicholas, Washbrook. Subs (all used): Adebisi, Lane, Worrincy, Wheldon, Whiting, Dale. Tries: Barnett 11, Brough 20, Hill 28, Horne. Conversions: Brough 11, 20, 28.

Referee: Russell Smith.

Attendance: 3,674.

Updated: 10:51 Thursday, January 27, 2005