HEAD coach Mick Cook reckons performances like that against Leigh Centurions will bring rewards aplenty for York City Knights.

The LHF Healthplan National League Two champions remain without a point in National League One - and fell into the relegation zone after Batley got off the mark at Doncaster.

But Cook says the display in yesterday's 24-10 defeat to the promotion-chasing full-timers has set a benchmark which, if matched in upcoming weeks, will see them climb the table.

"I was proud of the lads for big periods," he said. "We really got stuck into them and if some of the circumstances had been the other way - like Neil Law being hauled back by a forward pass and Matt Blaymire not grounding the ball - it could have been different.

"We can take a lot of positives, use that performance as a standard and get some points on the ladder."

Leigh scored two tries late on in each half but for much of the game had been more than matched.

"I thought we played with attitude and were tough," said Cook. "We were up in their faces and forced a lot of errors. We took the game to them and caused them problems.

"We've been talking about setting standards in defence and we set a good benchmark for future games."

Cook also alluded to Leigh's full-time status in his assessment. "We had to get stuck in - they're bigger than us and probably faster and stronger as well," he said.

"But we showed if we get up and work as a team we can cause them problems. I thought we did that for 90 per cent of the game.

"We will take a lot of positives out of our defensive work. We need to improve as always but if we keep this performance as a standard we will get points sooner rather than later."

He added: "Nobody had given us a look-in - Leigh put 50 points past Widnes, an ex-Super league side, last week. But yesterday's 24-10 scoreline does not reflect what's gone on.

"The lads are disappointed but right up until the last few minutes we were in with a chance. We got back to 14-10 and in a position to win but we made an error from the restart - if we had a good clean set there, then who knows."

Cook, however, warned that his side must now maintain the form showed yesterday - and turn good performances into points.

"It's a tough level but that performance would have been good enough to beat lots of sides in this division. We now have to get on with the job of winning games," he said.

"At the end of the day, we've worked very hard again and got nothing from it, but we can put a run of games together if we have that kind of attitude.

"However, it can't be a case of 'if we played like that (against other teams) we would have points on the board'. It has to be a case of actually playing like that and getting points."

Updated: 11:52 Monday, May 15, 2006