THE club has promoted this week’s game as the biggest of the season and that’s justifiable, as it’s first versus second.

Both clubs have pulled away from the chasing pack, but we must keep it in perspective and remember that it is just two points.

A very important two points but it’s the same amount for a win whether you are playing York, Coventry or Hemel.

But obviously it will be a big game with a lot of interest for both sets of fans.

We are hoping to see a big crowd at Odsal for this game and we are looking to break our own Betfred League One record.

From a coaching and performance point of view though the important thing is the result. I’ll play in front of three people as long as we win. It’s the end result that’s the most important and we will be doing everything in our power to achieve that goal.

York are a very good side and they have cropped up in the recent videos when they have played our other opponents, so we have watched the other sides while keeping half an eye on York.

With this game coming up, we’ve really looked at their performances against Newcastle, Doncaster and last week against London Skolars.

We feel we know a lot about them but I am fully aware that James Ford went over to Hunslet last week and I’m certain he will know a fair bit about us.

So I think we will both be familiar with each other but I am sure we will have some surprises up our sleeves for them, as their coaching staff will have for us.

Last week’s game against Hunslet was a really good game. I think the two games leading up to this week have been ideal for us.

It was tough against Newcastle, and we defended our way to victory there, and then against Hunslet I thought we not only played well defensively but also played well with the ball. We were scratchy in other areas and we will be attempting to sort that out this week.

So, while they were two very good performances, there is still room for improvement and obviously, if we are going to improve and bring our ‘A’ game to the party, then it may as well be when it’s first v second.

I thought our ‘Middles’ were superb last week. We had Brandon Pickersgill on the bench as cover for any problems with Gregg McNally and the plan was to rotate James Laithwaite in the middles as we deemed appropriate.

Obviously that option was taken away from us after 23 minutes when James got injured. That meant the others had to put their hands up and play longer minutes in very hot conditions, but they did really well doing that.

It heartens me because it shows that if you do get any adversity, against York or later in the season, that you can rely on these guys to roll their sleeves up and step up to the plate.

It’s a case of bringing one player in and losing two this week. We’ve brought Jordan Lilley in, which I’m absolutely delighted about.

I am looking forward to the next 18 months with Jordan, where he establishes himself here. It provides him with a bit of stability and he can also provide us with that stability too.

It also brings competition to the squad. We have two great half backs, in Joe Keyes and Dane Chisholm and now, when you add Jordan to the mix, it makes three.

They will all have to be on their mettle in order to earn that starting spot and both Joe and Chissy are happy to embrace that, as I’m sure Jordan is, and it will lead to a raising in standards all round.

On the flip side, it’s never good to lose players to injury. I’ve been delighted with what Ash Gibson has brought to the team this season, but he broke his thumb during the game at Hunslet and he has had to have it operated on.

That’s a six to eight weeks miss for Ash, but the fortunate thing is we have got Lee Smith back now and fully fit, which is a bonus.

Unfortunately, though, James Laithwaite’s injury has been confirmed as a broken leg, which will keep him out for the rest of the season, which is pretty tough on James who was really going well for us.