YORK City Knights' hopes of snapping up Craig Farrell from Hull Kingston Rovers have been scuppered.

However, Knights chief executive Steve Ferres was confident of having a highly-rated middle-back on the books within the next 48 hours.

Winger Farrell has, as expected, re-signed for the Robins, while the Evening Press believes the Knights may also miss out on another of their targets, Keighley loose-forward Lee Patterson, who is thought to be close to agreeing new terms with the Cougars.

However, Ferres said he was in talks with two other as yet unnamed players and he was hopeful that at least one would be on board soon.

He denied rumours that one of those targets was Hull KR's former Hull and St Helens Super League and Challenge Cup winner, Dean Busby, who has recently failed to agree a new deal with Rovers. "I have not been in contact with Dean Busby," he said.

The Knights squad are due to meet up for the first time in pre-season on Thursday for a get-together with new head coach Richard Agar.

The first training session ahead of next season, which is scheduled to begin on February 1, will be next Tuesday, with training likely to be held on every Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from then on.

The Huntington Stadium pitch has been re-seeded recently so training for the time-being is likely to be at the nearby Huntington School.

Updated: 11:19 Tuesday, November 04, 2003