York are second in Betfred League One, behind Bradford Bulls on ‘for and against’ and 10 points clear of sixth-placed Hunslet. They won 26-24 at South Leeds Stadium in May, but Hunslet almost snatched an incredible win after trailing 24-0 inside half an hour. That result has given the Parksiders confidence they can upset York’s push for automatic promotion – an added incentive to put on a show at Bootham Crescent. Victory against one of his former clubs would be the perfect way for coach Gary Thornton to celebrate his new contract and he insists his men are excited rather than daunted by the prospect of facing a York team who won 130-0 at West Wales Raiders last week. “It is one we’ve been looking forward to and we’ll be trying to put a few things right from the defeat at home,” said Thornton. “It’s similar to when we played Keighley the other week; we went there wanting to put the home defeat right and we did. “York are in terrific form and they will be very, very confident, but I think so are we. We know we can match them as we proved at home. It was 24-2 in the last 50 minutes so we know we can compete with them. This is one we’ve had highlighted on the calendar for a while and hopefully we can go there and do ourselves proud.” Danny Grimshaw is close to returning from a biceps injury, but may not be risked this weekend. Nathan Chappell has not recovered from a knee problem and will miss out again, along with Zach Braham (broken arm). Gavin Duffy, who scored a hat-trick in last week’s win over Hemel Stags, rolled an ankle and also misses out, so Tommy Brierley could return from injury in his place. Michael Haley has been unable to train due to work commitments, but could feature. “I don’t think we’ll be slow starters this week,” Thornton predicted. “The boys are looking forward to ripping in from the off. “My job is easy this week because they are self-motivated. We’ve got good structures and good plays and it’s about executing them and defending well.”
