JAMES Ford is pleased to have boosted York City Knights' backline options with the signing of a familiar face as the team bid to end a 15-year wait for a win at Craven Park tomorrow.

The Knights have re-signed three-quarter Nick Rawthorne on loan from fellow Betfred Championship side Toronto Wolfpack on an initial one-month loan deal and he is available to play in the Challenge Cup tie against Barrow Raiders.

Then-Hull FC player Rawsthorne scored eight tries and kicked 10 goals during his previous five-game loan spell with the City Knights two years ago and head coach Ford expects him to have a similar impact this time around.

"I’m delighted to bring Nick back to the club and I’m confident he’ll be a positive asset to the squad," said Ford.

"Nick has the potential to kick on and develop into a fine player if he works hard enough at his game.

"He’s got plenty of strike and adds versatility as he can play across the backline."

York have made a flying start to life back in the Championship after being promoted as League One champions in 2018, but came unstuck last Sunday as they went down 24-16 at home to another of the division's early pace-setters Sheffield Eagles.

Barrow has not been a happy hunting ground for them in recent years either, although they ended a run of 13 straight defeats against the Raiders with an emphatic 56-0 triumph at Bootham Crescent in February.

And captain Tim Spears is not buying into any talk of a hoodoo.

"I don't buy in the 'bogey team' thing," Spears told the York Press, adding: "I was 20 in 2004.

"People come and go and it's different personalities. I don't buy into the 'hoodoo' – and obviously we put 50 on them last time.

"It's more about us looking at where we went wrong last Sunday, and looking at what we can improve and doing what we need to do as a group of professional players to get the win."