MARK Applegarth hailed a "really clinical" display by York Knights as they secured their biggest win of the Betfred Championship season against Barrow Raiders.

But he admits there are still areas that must be polished up against Doncaster next weekend.

The Knights had found themselves on the wrong end of a gutting 15-14 defeat after Brad Walker’s last-gasp drop-goal at Craven Park back in April, but things were much more straightforward this time around as they ran out resounding 54-12 victors on home soil.

Read next:

Makeshift centre Nikau Williams twice fed Joe Brown to score into the right corner inside the opening 11 minutes before Sam Cook got in on the action, marking his first start with a dummy-half dart.

Though the Raiders did hit back through captain Jarrad Stack, it didn’t take long for York to regain their groove, with Brad Ward, Connor Bailey and Jack Teanby all finding the whitewash before Brown was sent to the sin-bin for a professional foul on the stroke of half time.

Undeterred, the Knights scored a further twice whilst down to 12, with Oli Field crashing over from close range before Liam Harris intercepted a cut-out pass, racing the length of the field to touch down.

Their captain then scored a second from close range before Andrew Bulmer cut the deficit, with Williams closing out the scoring with a flowing right-edge move to cap off an outstanding performance.

Having criticised his players for their lack of a clinical edge in defeat to Sheffield Eagles last weekend, Applegarth was delighted with his side’s turnaround, for they did not let many opportunities pass them by this afternoon.

“I’m really happy,” the Knights head coach enthused. “We knew we were going to be in for a tough game. 

“Last time that we played Barrow, I think it’s fair to say a few of the lads are still stinging.  But I’m really happy with how we went about our business.

“I thought we were really clinical in that first half, how we went about breaking them down. And then the challenge at half time was not switching off and letting them back into the game, being a man down.

“I thought how we went about that second half was great too, I’m really happy with it.

“There’s still a few areas we can polish up, but we’ll enjoy tonight and get back training on Tuesday ready for another tough game against Doncaster.”