York City Knights came close to ending Dewsbury's winning run before losing 24-18 at the Huntington Stadium.

Adam Sullivan's try gave the Knights an early lead before Dewsbury went 24-8 ahead, but tries from Tom Haberecht and Danny Ratcliffe led to a tense finish.

Knights director of rugby James Ratcliffe told BBC York: "I think the score doesn't reflect how far apart we were at some parts of the game.

"The effort was admirable but the application wasn't so good."

He added: "We stuck to the game plan for a little bit of the first half but started doing things off the cuff again and it's something we need to correct.

Sometimes smartness gets over the top of toughness and we weren't smart James Ratcliffe

"The ball players need to take it on the chin and say, yes, we've come up with some errors today as regards decision-making."

With Dewsbury unbeaten, and many playing links between the two sides, it was the Knights' biggest game of the season so far.

And, in sweltering conditions, it was a test of how they could handle the pressure.

"Dewsbury were quicker to everything, especially in the first period," added Ratcliffe. "But it's a fantastic effort from 34 players to be honest. I can't imagine what the heat is here today.

"It's to the credit of the conditioning coach that we stuck in there to the end, I think a lot of people thought we were going to fold.

"We got through right to the very end. I've just seen the bodies down in the dressing-rooms and they're smashed to pieces.

"Sometimes smartness gets over the top of toughness and we weren't smart."

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