York City Knights coach James Ratcliffe labelled his side's display in their 20-8 defeat to Hunslet at the Huntington Stadium as "utter bilge".

"I'm struggling to find any kind of positives from that performance, from our point of view it was absolutely woeful," he told BBC Radio York.

Ratcliffe had no complaints with the 18th-minute dismissal of Rob Kelly for throwing a punch.

"He's put his hand up to say how foolish he was to do it," he said.

Hunslet coach Paul March, who was controversially sacked by the Knights three scored one of the tries, but Ratcliffe said his presence was not to blame for York's failings.

There's no excuse for our performance whatsoever, and we need to work really hard before we go to Swinton next week James Ratcliffe

"You can talk about occasions getting to people, but it doesn't make them drop balls or miss tackles."

Ratcliffe cited the completion rate as a good example of his side's poor display.

"It was 51% in the first half and 47 in the second, you can't play rugby when you're dropping the ball on the first or second tackle.

"We've had 50 sets today, we should have scored well before [Garth Moore's late try]. I'm very embarrassed we had to score from a high kick, we never created anything whatsoever.

"We've been out-enthused by a bunch of young lads, and an experienced side like us should have known better than that.

"There was no composure, yet there was an experienced-enough side out there for us to be able to push forward and play to the gameplan.

"Hunslet deserved the win because they were marginally better than us," he added.

"There's no excuse for our performance whatsoever, and we need to work really hard before we go to Swinton next week."

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