HEAD coach Mick Cook is aware York City Knights need to improve if they are to have any joy further down the Northern Rail Cup line.

The Knights' 16-16 draw with Featherstone yesterday saw them progress through the group stage as pool six runners-up behind Hull KR.

But Cook did not overstate the achievement and said his side would have to play better in the knockout stages and, more importantly, in National League One when the season hots up.

"Our aim was to finish second and we've done that - not in the best possible fashion but we've done it," he said.

"We know we need to improve in the later stages of this competition as well as in the Challenge Cup next week and the start of the league the week after.

"We've got to look at the positives but we're under no illusions about the improvements we need to make."

As for yesterday's game, Cook said: "It was a bit scrappy with both sides making errors.

"We got some good tempo at times but the back end of our sets let us down with poor decisions or poor passes and we could have had more with a bit more composure.

"We never built pressure and it was a stop-start game. It was not a quality game to watch."

All York's points came in a nine-minute spell just before the hour-mark, which put them 16-8 ahead having been 8-0 down at the break.

"I'm disappointed we did not kick on," said Cook. "Credit to Featherstone, they hung in there and made it difficult for us, but when we had the game rolling forward we should have gone on to finish it off."

The Knights suffered a blow late on as full-back Matt Blaymire - the Evening Press man of the match - went off with an elbow injury. There was no dislocation but if there is found to be ligament damage it could mean a lengthy lay-off for one of the team's most consistent performers.

However, the back division has been boosted - as revealed in Saturday's Evening Press - by the return on loan of Leeds winger Peter Fox, although the Rhinos have yet to decide whether he can play in next week's Challenge Cup tie at Swinton.

Cook said: "He gives us more options on the wing and will put pressure on the guys in there to earn the right to play. He's really looking forward to it."

The draw for the second round of the Northern Rail Cup is tomorrow and Cook defied suggestions the competition was merely a warm-up for the league.

"We want to do well in it," he said. "It's not a token gesture to give you pre-season games, it's a real competition and if we get the chance to go far we'd like to take it."

He added: "We've drawn a game we probably should have won but we didn't lose and we finished second in the group. We'll build on what we've done and try to fix the things that keep us under pressure."

Updated: 10:42 Monday, March 27, 2006