YORK Knights boss Andrew Henderson was pleased with the effort from his players against leaders Toulouse Olympique last night.

The Knights failed to score as they were beaten 36-0 at the newly-relegated side in Round Three of the Betfred Championship yesterday evening, but Henderson was delighted with the effort put in by his injury-hit side.

Five York-raised players featured against Toulouse yesterday evening, with AJ Towse and Myles Harrison continuing their run of regular starts alongside Brad Ward, Harry Price and Ben Barnard, the latter two who were making their first appearance and start for the club respectively.

Injuries to key players including prop Pauli Pauli, half-back Ata Hingano and captain Chris Clarkson, combined with a failed head injury assessment for Ronan Michael during the game, saw the Knights left with no options for replacements from the bench, with the result an indicator of the character in their squad this season.

“Effectively we ran with 16 players today," Henderson admitted.

"Chris Clarkson was obviously not fit to play the game, so it was a bit of a precaution that if we really got in trouble then we’d have to throw someone out there, he was there.

“But he wasn’t alright to go today so we effectively came here with 16 players.

"Five young players, five young York lads, I’m so proud for them to get to represent their hometown club in front of a great travelling support as well.

“Those York fans that have travelled, they were in full voice and it was great to see them at the end there; the colour and the energy from them to thank the players for their efforts.

"I think that’s one thing that you can say, is that it was a quality effort from the York Knights.

“You’re playing with 16 players, a lot of young players, some on debut, and some that have never been exposed to this level of rugby league as well.

“For them to hold their own and to compete the way that they did, and for me make it respectable, it says a lot about us as a group as well I think.”

As well as depleted numbers and the logistics that come with a trip to the South of France, York were also facing a quick turnaround after a suprtb second-half performance saw them dispatch Bradford Bulls 32-16 in front of the television cameras on Monday night.

And while the outcome was not what Henderson wanted, he was still pleased with his young side's performance.

“It’s been a five-day turnaround," he added. "We played Monday night, and that was an intense game on Monday.

"It took a lot of energy and emotion out of the players, both mentally and physically.

“A five-day turnaround and then we have to do the travel. The travel arrangements, which is a little bit out of our control, weren’t ideal.

"So you had that and you factor that we’ve only got 16 available players, then the fact that you’ve got five or six of that under the age of 20 that haven’t had a lot of experience or first-team games at this level.

“To come away with a 36-0 result, I’ll take that.

“Don’t forget, we haven’t even got that continuity in the halves and the other bits and pieces.

“I’m a realist as a coach. I’m just pleased that we competed the way that we did.

“It would have been nice to have got across the whitewash there to give our fans something to cheer about, but it wasn’t meant to be.

“We’ll dust ourselves down, we’ll make sure that we’re smart this week in how we train and how we do things because there’s been some players like [Conor] Fitzsimmons who’ve done 80 minutes for us and done a lot of big minutes on Monday. Jon [Luke] Kirby did big minutes, Jack Teanby did big minutes.

“Effectively, throughout the game we lost Ronan Michael and that put us down then to 15. Ben Barnard came off with a knock and has managed to go back on, and then we had to pull AJ [Towse] because he took a knock.

“Effectively for the last half an hour, we had no subs for the last half hour. So to say that we conceded 18 points first half and 18 points second half, and with all those things against us, I can’t be too critical of my team really can I?”