YORK City Knights have not paid the price for a bad performance.

That was the verdict of coach Paul Broadbent after yesterday's 20-8 victory over amateur outfit Skirlaugh in the third round of the TXU Energi Challenge Cup.

It was the Knights' first-ever appearance in the famous old competition and it also brought their first-ever win, seeing them into tonight's fourth round draw.

But Broadbent was not happy with the display. "The guys know they've under-performed and that's something we've got to be very conscious of," he told the Evening Press.

"One good performance (last week against Hull KR, the Knights' first match) does not make you play well the week after.

"The sign of a good quality professional outfit, for me, is when the team puts in consistently good performances. We might have got a result but in a lot of respects it feels like we've not achieved.

"It was horrendous to watch at times but we've got to be prepared to have sticky periods where things are not going the way you want. The guys are learning and we've got to be prepared to stay focused.

"But we're still in a phase where we're finding our feet. We will get there, I've no doubt about that, and I'm thinking this game has probably been a good game for the players given the situation we're in. It will help make sure everybody stays on their toes.

"At the end of the day we're in the next round and the good thing is we've learnt things and can say it was not acceptable without having suffered a defeat."

Broadbent gave praise to the National Conference League title-chasers but said his own team needed to be prepared to roll their sleeves up rather than try fancy rugby at the wrong times.

"Skirlaugh played some good testing stuff," he said. "They got in our faces and made us make errors, and I don't think any of our guys would have walked off with anything less than the utmost respect for them.

"But when things weren't going our way we needed to control the ball for our sets and get in a kick. We've got to accept we can't play any foolish football at times when we should be doing the donkey work."

Broadbent said he didn't mind who York got in the next round. "We will see what it fetches for us. My main concern is to produce consistently good rugby," he said.

"Yesterday it was far from that and the guys are big enough to accept we under-performed and we will be working hard on ball control and handling under pressure to help put things right."

He added: "It's difficult to say whether the guys were complacent. You try to make sure the guys go out in the right manner and how they appear on the surface doesn't always reflect what it's like.

"These are always tricky games and in a sense we were in a no-win situation because we were expected to win. But we're through and we know what we have to work on."

Bramley are to make a third and final bid to join the Rugby Football League, just over three years after the old Bramley side folded.

They hope to play at Farsley Celtic's Throstle Nest ground.

Updated: 12:43 Monday, January 27, 2003