DALE Ferguson believes that Dewsbury Rams delivered the "complete package" for 80 minutes against York Knights despite their eventual defeat in the Betfred Challenge Cup Third Round.

Second-half tries from Oli Field and Nikau Williams sealed a 14-8 triumph for the Knights at the FLAIR Stadium, earning themselves a repeat of last year's Fourth Round tie at home to Sheffield Eagles in two week's time.

It was far from a vintage performance from Andrew Henderson's youthful side, showing a host of personnel and positional changes, and they were made to pay for their ill-discipline during the first half, trailing to a Perry Whiteley try and two Callum Turner penalties at the interval.

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The Rams retained their lead until just after the hour and were perhaps unlucky not to see the tie head into golden point extra time, having enjoyed the lion's share of possession and attacking field position in the bog-like conditions.

But after disappointing defeats to Keighley Cougars and Bradford Bulls during their AB Sundecks 1895 Cup campaign, it was a much improved performance that Ferguson hopes that they can build on ahead of the start of the Betfred Championship season in just over a month's time.

"I believe that we competed right to the end," the former Scotland international told The Sportsman after the final whistle.

"But obviously we just slipped up a little bit and gave York the opportunity. That's what happens with these quality teams with depth in numbers - you give them a sniff, and they take their chance.

"The last couple of games, we've not worked and gelled like an 80-minute unit, but I believed that we got a really good effort from everyone. We got some good minutes out of our pack and we looked like a good team.

"We've shown glimpses all the way through pre-season that we can defend as a good unit, we did that against Huddersfield, and we did it against Keighley in spells.

"Today, I believe we got a complete package for the 80 minutes.

"There were a couple of slip-ups, which we'll evaluate going into the little break that we've got now, but we'll be good to go for the first game of the season."