MARK Applegarth is relishing the prospect of York Knights’ tricky run-in, insisting “those are the sorts of games we want to be involved in.”

The Knights round off their regular season with matches against four of the Betfred Championship’s current top six, with trips to Widnes Vikings, League Leaders’ Shield winners Wakefield Trinity and Sheffield Eagles followed by a tricky home encounter with Featherstone Rovers which could well decide the final play-off place.

York head into Sunday’s clash at the DCBL Stadium looking for a fifth consecutive win – and tenth under Applegarth – but Widnes are in sparkling form themselves, with a run of six wins from their last seven outings including a 35-20 victory against Sheffield a fortnight ago.

Despite on paper having one of the toughest ends to the campaign, Applegarth is excited to see just what his side can produce against the league’s best.

He explained: “We’re playing good rugby at a time of year when we want to be playing good rugby, but we’re under no illusions that we’ve got a tough month coming up. We’ve got all teams above us in the league currently.

“But it’s something that we’re looking forward to and relishing, they’re the sort of games that we want to be involved in.

“We’re looking forward to coming up against a very well-coached and very together team in Widnes on Sunday.”

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Whilst Toulouse Olympique and Bradford Bulls seem to have all but assured their places in the top six on 29 and 28 points respectively, just three points separate the Knights on 24 from fourth-placed Widnes on 27.

Featherstone and Sheffield occupy fifth and sixth on 26 points – but with 180, York have a noticeably superior points difference than any of the sides they can realistically catch.

A pair of 54-12 and 40-0 scorelines - the latter achieved most recently at Whitehaven last weekend - have undoubtedly aided the Knights’ cause, but Applegarth is expecting a much tougher prospect on Sunday.

“I know the lads are looking forward to it too,” he continued. “These are the sort of games that we want to be involved in.

“And if we do want to make it into those play-offs, we need to make sure that we’re competing in these sorts of games.

“It’s a good challenge for us as a group, but we’re looking forward to it. You want to be in these games where you know you’re really going to have to play at your best, so I’m really looking forward to Sunday.

“I am one game at a time. The obvious answer is if you win it, you win it, it’s as simple as that. If you win every week, you’re going to be in the play-offs aren’t you. If only it was that simple!

“But it’s just one week at a time and all that matters to us is that game on the weekend at Widnes. We’ll deal with that and then reassess. We’re just going like that for these final four games.”