LUCKLESS York City Knights gave a much-improved performance at home to Championship leaders Featherstone to earn plaudits from head coach Dave Woods – but they lost 44-16 to remain deep in relegation trouble.

To make matters worse, centre James Ford was a late withdrawal from last night’s team and is out indefinitely after pulling a quad in training ahead of the match – while the club may have seen the last of fans’ favourite Duane Straugheir in a Knights shirt.

Ford, 28, suffered a recurrence of an injury he suffered while playing for Widnes earlier this year. He was out for six weeks on that occasion and, while he hopes to be fit for the visit of Halifax in two matches’ time, a similar absence would see him miss the rest of term.

Straugheir has already been ruled out of this campaign after breaking a foot in training on Sunday. The Press understands the 21-year-old former Featherstone player, a revelation since switching to the second row earlier this year, has received a tempting offer from Sheffield Eagles and, given his desire to stay in the Championship and one day play in Super League, he is unlikely to remain at York if they get relegated. He is leaving it until the end of the season to decide his future.

There was good news for York with James Haynes’ shock inclusion in the line-up – taking Ford’s place at centre – despite his own mouth injury picked up in training after the altercation with team-mate Ryan Esders. Joe Hemmings also had an excellent debut.

The performance, just one game after the 76-38 farce at Halifax, was another plus, despite a late rally of points by Fev.

Woods said: “There was a patch in the second half when we let ourselves down a bit. We didn’t have a lot of ball and we gave away silly penalties and they scored on the back of them. Full credit to Featherstone – they’re top and they’re there for a reason.”