YORK City Knights' inaugural player of the month, Simon Friend, today lauded the mental strength in the squad after the side ended their hectic week by qualifying for the knockout stages of the Arriva Trains Cup.

The Knights ran in six second-half tries to see off Dewsbury Rams 44-7 at Huntington Stadium yesterday and virtually guarantee runners-up spot in the Yorkshire Group and therefore a place in the play-offs for the quarter-finals.

Only a defeat by 42 points at Featherstone on Good Friday will deny them second place but even then they are guaranteed progression as the best third-placed side in the competition.

Yesterday's triumph followed the respectable display against Huddersfield in the Challenge Cup quarter-finals last Sunday and the victory over Gateshead at Bootham Crescent on Wednesday.

And Friend said: "Coming from Wednesday night it was always going to be a tough physical challenge but it came down to a mental thing.

"It's a mental game these days and I think we did a really good job coming off from those two games.

"It's a hard toil on the body but we did the right thing in training, with the massages we had on Thursday, to give our bodies the best chance to recover."

He added: "The first half was scrappy. We knew they would come out pretty tough, but that we would score points in the second half with the wind.

"We started the game off too slow but in the second half we knew we had a job to do. Our defence was good. We conceded just one try and that was a good factor for us."

The 26-year-old back-rower was presented with the Player of the Month award for March - as voted for by Evening Press readers - just before kick-off, and he said it came as a great fillip.

"I'm stoked about it, especially as it's the first one. I didn't know about it, but running in from the warm-up I got dragged aside," he said.

"It's an honour definitely. To know that the fans who turn up week in week out are voting for you is exceptional. As a player it's always great to have that support."

He added: "But you can only play so well when you've got the team doing the job they're doing."

The Aussie also came in for praise from Knights match-day assistant coach Matty Crowther.

With boss Richard Agar having to dash off to a wedding in the Midlands, Crowther took his place in the press conference.

"Simon Friend, as he has been all season, was outstanding," he said. "Every time he gets the ball he goes forward well.

"With players like him and Damian Ball (fellow back-rower) you know you will get consistency, and Scott Rhodes (stand-off) was excellent as well."

He added: "It was a workmanlike performance. It's been a really tough week, a really tough few weeks in fact, backing up the Huddersfield game with the Gateshead match and then yesterday.

"There were some tired lads out there but at the end of the day it was 40-odd points and a good performance."

The result was secured with 34 second-half points and a clean sheet at the other end.

"We had the wind with us in the second half but even more so there was a lot of work in pushing the ball, and defensively I thought we were outstanding," said Crowther.

"We looked at areas we needed to improve at half-time - getting to their spot players and getting more push on the ball and better support play - and I think we did that a lot better in the second half than in the first."

Updated: 10:22 Monday, April 05, 2004