YORK Knights boss Mark Applegarth believes yesterday's 27-0 triumph against Doncaster was the most pleasing performance of his tenure so far.

A Joe Brown double helped the Knights atone for their 36-20 defeat in South Yorkshire on the opening day of the Betfred Championship season back in March, with Oli Field and Sam Cook also finding the whitewash.

Full-back Will Dagger missed just once from the tee, whilst former York half-back Connor Robinson spent time in the sin-bin on a Heritage Day to remember for the hosts.

Doncaster, without influential forward Pauli Pauli due to suspension, were second best in every department, offering little threat - barring two short spells either side of the interval.

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But despite finishing the game without starting half-backs Liam Harris and Ata Hingano due to injury, Applegarth was delighted to see his side record a second clean sheet under his stewardship and leapfrog their opponents in the process.

“It’s probably the most pleasing victory and performance since I’ve been at the club,” he enthused.

“We knew it was going to be a tough, physical encounter, the two teams were pretty evenly-matched, especially in the league table.

“I’m really pleased with how we’ve gone about our work, especially defensively, and how we dealt with a bit of adversity as the game unfolded - losing our captain and one of our halves at half-time wasn’t ideal.

“But how we just got on with the job and dealt with that is probably the most pleasing thing for me as a coach today.”

Doncaster had started well in the pouring rain, with the teams set-for-set until Cook burrowed over out of dummy half with nine minutes on the clock.

And the head coach was pleased to see his side weather the early storm of their opponents, whose line-up included former Leeds Rhinos stars Brett Ferres and Luke Briscoe, and ex-Wakefield centre Reece Lyne.

“It’s not only their pack,” Applegarth explained. “They’ve got a big pack, but their outside backs as well, they’ve got some carries in them too.

“We knew that it was going to be a direct game, and how we went about our business, especially in the first 20 minutes with our defensive application and process, was really pleasing.”