York City Knights lost their opening league game 20-26 to Gateshead

Danny Ratcliffe scored two tries and John Oakes scored one to give the Knights a 14-6 half-time lead, but Gateshead hit back after the break.

Knights assistant coach James Ratcliffe said: "The second-half performance was nothing short of embarrassing."

Rob Spicer scored a late consolation try for the Knights but Ryan Esders and player-coach Paul March were sent off.

Ratcliffe added: "I don't think some of (the players) have a winning mentality. It comes from underneath the badge on the shirt, it comes from the heart. Winning comes from within from a player's point of view."

The assistant coach complained about Gateshead's tactics of holding down at the ruck.

"We've already complained about Gateshead in the past two fixtures we've had...It should be up to the referee and the people above us who should outlaw that tactic. Some of the decisions made by (the referee) were bewildering," Ratcliffe added.

We're not going to hit our goals or be anywhere near with performances like that James Ratcliffe

He refused to blame the officials for the Knights' poor start to the second half, in which they gave away three tries in seven minutes. "The first half, it wasn't broken. If it's not broken, why try and fix it?" he added.

The Knights now travel to Barrow, who beat Workington 14-0, on Monday.

Ratcliffe plans a long training session for the day before the game.

"We need to work hard on Sunday, what was going to be a little freshening-up session might turn out to be a long session now," he added.

"The talent's there. It's not going to happen overnight but it has to happen sometime. We speak about being in top fours and top twos. We're not going to hit our goals or be anywhere near with performances like that."