YORK KNIGHTS’ 40-0 demolition of newly-promoted Swinton Lions on Sunday afternoon left head coach Andrew Henderson feeling “really pleased” with his side’s performance.

Former Heworth winger AJ Towse opened the scoring in just the second minute, setting the tone for York to run in eight unanswered tries at a chilly Heywood Road and nil an opponent for the first time since 2019.

The emphatic victory moves the Knights up to fourth in the Betfred Championship table, having taken six points from their five matches thus far.

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Henderson was delighted with the manner in which the Knights controlled proceedings from the off, praising both his side’s attacking and defensive play.

“I’m just really pleased for the team,” he enthused.

“They’ve delivered for the large part what we set out to do, and executed some really good attacking play.

“I thought, again, defensively we were immense. To nil a team on their own patch, that’s no mean feat.

“Swinton, they’re a team that I know can score points, and they’re a decent attacking team, so I’ve got to give a lot of credit to the playing group and I’m very, very proud of them.

“To come here and and nil a team away from home, that’s no mean feat and they should be very proud of their efforts.

“I think that again epitomises what we’re about. As a team, we will compete for each other and we won’t give in.

“There were times when we were down to 12 men on a couple of occasions. We got a green card when James Glover took that knock to the back from the short kick-off, and then at the back end we lost Levi Edwards and had to defend for the last six or seven minutes with 12 men.

“We came through that, so that just shows the character of this team at the moment and where we’re at.

“Equally, I thought we scored some fantastic tries today from some set pieces, as well as from some of our general field attacking plays, so I’m really, really pleased.”