York Knights still have plenty of improvement in them as they continue to surpass expectations in Super League.
That’s the opinion of head coach Mark Applegarth, who saw his side pick up two more points on Friday evening with a 17-16 win over Hull FC at the MKM Stadium, building on their opening day win over Hull KR.
David Nofoaluma scored twice for the Knights on a damp night in East Yorkshire, with the former Halifax Panthers man impressing on his debut for the club. That was before Ben Jones-Bishop snuck over in the corner and Danny Richardson slotted a one-pointer, as they edged past the Black and Whites.
It was another superb night for York, who host Warrington Wolves next week, but Applegarth insists his side are some way off hitting their peak.
“If someone would have said to me you’d two wins our of three in your opening three games, I’d have taken it,” the York Knights boss said “The exciting thing for us and the thing that I’ll be challenging the group on is I still think we have a lot more gears in us.
“I still think we’re too nice with teams when we have them in vulnerable positions and I think we can keep our foot on the throat a little bit more ruthlessly. That’s only going to come with game time and getting used to playing at this level.
“There’s a hell of a lot of improvement in us still. We won’t be getting too carried away, just like we didn’t get too down last week, we won’t get too high this week. We’ll get in review and it’ll be straight back onto that training field on Monday morning to get after Warrington.”
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On the win itself, which sees York move up to third in the Super League table at the time of writing, before Saturday’s fixtures, Applegarth said: “I thought we started very well. I thought we let Hull back into the game in the first half and they fully capitalised on that, as you’d expect with the playing personnel they’ve got.
“We spoke at half-time about not chasing the scoreboard but just building some composure about what we were doing and getting back to where we were in that first 20 minutes and I thought we were outstanding on how we went about that.
“We put a drop goal over because we knew it would make it a two score game and that put a lot of pressure on Hull. It was a great test of character for us on our try line defence and building some grit. It’s easy to say, building togetherness and team spirit, but that’s how you build it by going through tests like that.
“I’m a really proud coach and we know we have to build a level of consistency in our performance but job done, two points.”
