York City Knights needed a late try from hooker Jack Lee to overcome a resolute Workington side 18-14 at the Huntington Stadium.

The Knights were 10-0 down before Mike Mitchell (58) touched down. A try from Steve Lewis and three Danny Ratcliffe conversions completed the victory.

Knights coach Dave Woods told BBC Radio York: "It was tough, they were doing us in every department of the game.

"The pleasing thing was we worked right through the 80 minutes."

An unimpressed Woods added: "We weren't smart about what we did or how we played, didn't respect possession, Holty (Workington half-back Darren Holt) had a really good kicking game and we just didn't compete with them.

We'll take an ugly win rather than a flashy loss any day Dave Woods

"Even though we weren't playing well we still kept going, we didn't drop our heads, we worked and worked and in the end it worked in our favour."

Woods wanted to avoid a forwards battle, particularly with Brett Waller injured, but suggested his players were too keen to move the ball out at times.

"We wanted to keep it out of the middle, but we kept trying to offload in silly positions and that's what really hurt us."

Nonetheless the victory keeps the Knights on course for the Championship One play-offs and seriously damages Workington's hopes of a place in them.

"We got the points, which was what we had to do," Woods added. "As ugly as it was, we'll take it.

"We'll take an ugly win rather than a flashy loss any day."

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