YORK Knights head coach Andrew Henderson has hailed yesterday afternoon’s clash at Bradford Bulls as a ‘great game of rugby league’.

Underdogs ahead of the tie despite a record as one of the Betfred Championship’s in-form teams, the Knights delivered across the small dimensions of the Odsal pitch to claim a deserved 20-10 victory.

Scott Mikalauskas’ at times questionable refereeing made for a volatile atmosphere throughout, the sides trading penalties before late scores from AJ Towse and Conor Fitzsimmons wrapped up an eighth win in nine matches for Henderson’s side.

REPORT: York Knights keep play-off hopes alive with outstanding win at Bradford Bulls

Despite five places separating them in the Championship table, the head coach conceded that there had been very little to choose from between the sides.

“I just thought that it was a great game of rugby league!” he enthused.

“I thought that we had two really good sides out there today and it felt like a play-off game for me – that was the feel. The atmosphere and the way that the game was played with both teams very methodical in their process and set for set.

“There wasn’t much give from both teams. I thought both executed well with the ball, both teams were kicking the ball well and defending well, there wasn’t much between both sides. 

“That’s the reality when you’ve got Bradford, who are a current top-four side, we knew that we were going to be challenged today and that we had to be at our best if we were going to come away with a result.

“But I have to give a lot of credit to the team today. They showed what I felt was a lot more composure this week, we were a lot more disciplined in our performance and a lot more patient as well.

“We had to come from behind on a couple of occasions, but I thought that it was a really professional performance from the York Knights today.”

Not just impressing in an attacking sense, the Knights were outstanding defensively in a much-improved performance from last weekend’s narrow victory over Swinton Lions.

And Henderson was pleased with the patience showed by his side, believing that one defensive set in particular changed the game in their favour.

RECAP: Bradford Bulls 10-20 York Knights

“It was always going to be a forward-dominated affair,” he admitted. “The pitch isn’t very wide, it’s only 57 metres wide I believe. It’s a lot tighter than what we’re used to.

“It just means that there’s not as much opportunity to exploit defenders or to find that space to create a bit of ruck speed or tempo, but I think that both teams struggled with that today. 

“In terms of our overall performance, I thought that we showed a lot of patience, a lot of discipline and a lot of composure in what we did, we were happy to go through with our process the way that we do and the team have  to be commended for that.

“There was a big moment in the second half where we went back-to-back errors, and for me, that was the opportunity for Bradford to get us.

“Bradford just couldn’t take advantage of that because we, through our defence, forced an error. Off the back of that, we then completed that next set, turned the ball over a metre off their line and then in that next defensive set, we really frontloaded our energy. 

“We restricted Bradford to 20 metres, then Myles Harrison catches the ball and gets tackled on halfway. That was the game-changing moment for me.

“We got that little bit of ascendancy, momentum started to swing and that control well and truly went in our favour. As a result of that patience, we get the late try then at the end to seal it for us.

“The way that we played and the manner that we played was like a play-off mentality and that was what was needed to get the job done, so full credit to the side.”