YORK City Knights boss Mick Cook reckoned yesterday's Northern Rail Cup loss to Barrow was not necessarily a pointer towards next week's more important National League Two meeting between the sides.

The Knights fell out of the cup with an 18-16 second-round defeat at Huntington Stadium but have a chance to exact quick revenge against the big-spending Raiders in Cumbria next Sunday, and Cook reckoned his side's improved attitude after some disappointing displays was a good sign for the immediate future.

"It's a different game," he said of next weekend's match. "Your preparation has to be right. They will be looking at us again and we will be looking at them, looking for ideas to break each other down.

"They've got a couple of guys to come back in and it's a big challenge for us but we will be looking forward to it.

"We've found a bit more commitment which we asked for, which we demanded, and we've got to build on it for the rest of the year."

The Knights scored three tries to Barrow's two yesterday, but lost the game on goals. Cook, though, said his side still needed to be more effective with the ball in hand, having had plenty of pressure in the last half-hour yesterday but without making the most of it.

"It was an improvement in our attitude which is a good sign," said the Knights boss. "We've done a pretty good job without winning a game.

"We're still lacking a bit of effectiveness when we get in there. We were also not clinical enough. We're still working on it and we need to keep doing that. There's no secret to success apart from more practice."

The Knights lost the game in the first-half, trailing 16-4 before grabbing a converted try against the run of play before the interval. They dominated the second-half but could not get a winning score.

Cook added: "Attitude-wise we were up for this game. It needed to change and we need to be like that every game. We have to be prepared to do whatever it takes.

"Defensively we were pretty tough for big periods. However, we gave too much away and at the end of the day that's what's cost us. We dropped too much ball and gave away too many penalties in our control.

"We only got in their half twice in the first half and the penalty count was high against us (at 9-5). There was an improvement in performance but you've got to do it over the 80 minutes.

"But, take that away and there's room to build. We've found a few pointers where we will need to improve on next week."