York Knights boss Mark Applegarth couldn’t be prouder of his side after they claimed their third win in a row with a victory over Hull FC.
The Knights scored four tries in a 20-16 win, with halves pairing Cody Hunter and Paul McShane producing a sublime effort to help them to the two points.
David Nofoaluma, Jon Bennison, Denive Balmforth and Nikau Williams crossed for the home side, as they earned their second win of the season over FC, who drop to 11th in the table.
A strong start saw them take an 8-0 lead after 20 minutes, but a small bip allowed FC back into the game, and they went into the break trailing.
However, an excellent second half saw them come from eight points behind to claim the win, sending the travelling FC fans home empty-handed.
“I thought we showed a lot of character at the end,” Applegarth said to Sky Sports post-match. “I was a little bit filthy at half-time, if I’m honest with you. I felt we invited Hull back into that game after the water break in the first half.
“I just thought momentum swung a bit with Hull. I thought we’d start dipping in terms of our intent and our effort areas. I can’t fault them for that second half.
“Far from perfect in terms of ball in hand, but that character and spirit that we showed was what we want to be about. So, I’m a real proud coach tonight for sure.”
Applegarth continued: “We play a game that’s a war of attrition, don’t we? If you want to be a consistently good team, you need to show that grit in abundance. I thought that second half epitomised where we want to get to.
“Defenders make errors, but we’ll keep showing up for each other, and we’ll try to outwork our opposition.
“As I said, far from perfect, but I thought the character and spirit and the grit that the lads showed tonight were first-class.”
York Knights boss teases major announcement amid reports of new financial investors
Following reports that York had asked the RFL for an advance on their central distribution funding due to cash flow problems, Applegarth has teased that a “positive” announcement is on the way, and it could well be to do with fresh investors putting money into the club.
He said: “All the off-field stuff, I’m sure there’ll be some positive news coming out very soon. We just control what we can control. As I say, I’m really proud to be coaching the players in this amazing year in Super League.”
Pushed further for information, the boss replied: “Listen, there’s been a lot of headlines that have been coming out. York’s a thriving city. It’s a great place to grow a rugby league brand, and I know there’s a lot of people in the city that are fully behind us and want to see us succeed.
“It’s not my story to tell, and I’ll let some announcements come out when they’re ready.”
