HEAD coach Richard Agar lauded the belief in his York City Knights side and their 'outstanding' defence after watching them win 30-16 at Barrow Raiders on Sunday.

The Knights fought back from 16-0 down in the first quarter to score 22 unanswered points before the interval and a further two tries afterwards against a side who were unbeaten in National League Two this year and on the back of a seven-game winning sequence.

The result ironically still saw York drop a place to fifth in the table as Sheffield enjoyed a big win to go above the Knights on points difference, but the top five are all on six points, each with three wins from the opening four games.

Said Agar: "A 16-0 start is not what you prepare for but we've got a lot of belief in ourselves and even at 16-0 there was a long time to go and we knew we had it in us.

"We conceded two tries from kicks and up to that point they had caught us a few times, but we did not panic and the first try gave us the kick-start we needed. We knew they would start big but probably did not cope with it like we would have liked, but after we got that first score we never looked back."

Agar was unhappy with the refereeing at times claiming the Knights had 'come off on the wrong side of some debatable decisions', but was proud of the way his side did not let it distract them.

They scored four tries in the second quarter as they got on top of their hosts and in the second half needed to be resolute in defence as the Raiders sought a way back into the game.

"We did not get many 50-50 calls right through," he said. "A couple of times we gifted them possession but some of the time it was not our fault. But the players did not let it deter them.

"We spent a lot of time defending our line but the way we did so was as though we could play another game and hold them out.

"There is a saying whereby you defend your line like you're on the edge of a cliff and you don't want to get pushed over, and at the end we were still on the edge.

"We realise we can't just turn up and let one in and score two - we've got to work hard. It took a lot of desire yesterday and we absolutely 100 per cent deserved that win."

The Knights had spent Saturday night in a Lancaster hotel in order to reduce the match-day travelling, and Agar added: "Staying over aided our preparation - you would not have thought so after 15 minutes or so, but it helped in the end."

The Knights chief was not keen to single individuals out, but said: "There were some great efforts up front from Richard Wilson and Craig Forsyth and I felt Simon Friend started slow but picked it up and led the way.

"Mark Cain had a great impact off the bench. He gave us a lot of go-forward and his partner in crime Darren Callaghan defended superbly. But it's hard to pick out individuals, it was a very good team performance."

Updated: 10:57 Monday, May 10, 2004