MICK Cook has pledged to win back those fans who are calling for his head but says he will not be affected by their criticism.

The York City Knights head coach has come under fire after his injury-plagued side fell into the relegation zone in LHF National League One still without a point after six games.

But he goes into tomorrow's tough home match against Widnes Vikings with the backing of the club's management and players, and says both he and the team will stay strong in the face of adversity.

"There's a small minority of fans having a go but if they think putting everybody down will improve their performance I think they're wrong," he said.

"I think a lot of fans are still behind us the ones who understand what we've gone through as a team and the level of competition we're playing in.

"There's not a lot we can do about the others. If we want to win those fans back we have to do it through merit and performance."

He added: "People are entitled to their comments but to be highly critical of people and their work won't affect me or the team. We will still prepare for games to go out and do our best.

"We need to stay strong as a team, as a coaching staff and as a club to get through these difficult times."

He added: "We're pretty tight as a group. We have to stick together or we're nothing. We know we've faced a lot of adversity with injuries but we have to dig in and get through it, and we know we have to play and be tough and not serve up the first-half defensive display like we did last week (at Batley)."

Cook remained confident the Knights would turn the tide, saying there was a fine line between success and failure in NL1.

"Hull KR are the only team that have given us a bit of a touch up and they've done that to a lot of teams," he explained. "Against other teams we've been in a position to win but didn't do it.

"It's been frustrating. There have been games we should have won but haven't because of errors like a dropped pass, missed tackle or forward pass. There is a fine line at this level.

"We have to get our performances right and we have to start taking control of games from the start."