THE run-in has begun. York City Knights have eight games left to secure their Co-operative Championship survival.

With the focus falling first on tomorrow’s vital clash at Dewsbury, Knights coach Dave Woods has been poring through the fixture list to see where his side might rise and fall in the remaining two months of the campaign.

He has a points target in mind, but he hasn’t burdened the squad with it yet.

“I haven’t put that on the players,” he said.

“I have done it myself. I have gone through and looked at certain games and I have got a target I will expect them to achieve.

“We will discuss that with the players over the next couple of weeks but I have set some targets which look at where we need to be and what we need to achieve to stay up.”

Leaving the lads alone at the moment is probably not a bad thing.

The Knights squad don’t need any further distractions ahead of the Rams’ battle in West Yorkshire and, anyway, they themselves are fully aware of what is at stake over the final stretch.

With that in mind, Woods is delighted with the way they have gone about training and trying to maintain the intensity they have brought on to the field in recent weeks.

“They know what is at stake,” Woods added. “They realise that if they don’t stay up then a lot of them will lose contracts as well. They are determined to succeed and they all want to be winners.

“They are confident about this week. We have spoken about it and we just need to do what we have been doing in previous weeks, complete our sets and put pressure on Dewsbury.

“Training has been good. The players are pretty relaxed. There’s been contact work, marker work and work on defensive systems. We also have done a couple of small set drills and a couple of new plays we want to put in.

“We have done really well and I can’t really ask any more of them. The boys have really dug in over the last few weeks and we have got the intensity in training.”

Looking at the remaining fixtures, you can bet that Woods will not only target victory against Dewsbury but will want to do the double over Toulouse when they visit Huntington Stadium on August 9.

Halifax, who look to be improving in recent weeks, are somewhat of an unknown quantity for York with the vagaries of the fixture list meaning the two sides are yet to meet.

And the head coach will want to see significant improvement against Batley at home, following the 50-point debacle when his side went up the West Yorkshire hill to meet the Bulldogs.

As previously reported by The Press this week, Woods reckons full marks against Dewsbury will give his side a little bit of breathing space in the table and lift the pressure.

So has the enforced break, a two week gap after York lost by only four points to Super League-bound Widnes Vikings, helped – or could it blunt newly found momentum?

“It’s one of those things,” Woods said.

“We were going really well and you have to ask did we want to stop that momentum on keep it going or have that break?

“The players have been able to rest up but we almost have to start again.

“They know Dewsbury will think that this is their chance to win and get a roll away from the bottom of the table and I think the boys are pretty focused.

“The break has done them good in that respect.”


Slaves to the rhythm of ladeez night

A DRAG queen, strippers and a disco. How can girls resist York City Knights’ ‘Ladies Knight’ next month?

A fun night out is promised at Huntington Stadium’s Bar13 on July 15 – the highlight of which will be a topless slave auction of some of the Knight’s stars.

A pre-show Ann Summers party kicks off proceedings at 7.30pm before the real show, which sees two male strippers take to the stage, begins at 8.30pm.

Raffle prizes can also be won and tickets for the evening, hosted by a drag queen, are £10 per person or £100 for a table of ten including two bottles of wine and nibbles.

Doors open at 7pm and for more information, or to book tickets, call the information hotline on 01904 767404.