YORK KNIGHTS just lacked the “game smarts” necessary to further challenge Leigh Leopards, coach Mark Applegarth felt.
His side fell to a brave 22-14 defeat at the Progress With Unity Stadium.
“It’s a frustrating night,” said Applegarth. “I thought we played very tough, but ultimately I thought we lacked a bit of game smarts, a bit of game management.
“You invite a team with such quality as Leigh that much pressure and then you’re not nailing your blows back, something’s going to give.
“That start of that second half probably cost us in the end. Leigh rolled us for four repeat sets, then we didn’t get a kick away and invited them back on easy field position.
“The lads are really frustrated because I thought Leigh were there for the taking today.
“We’ve got some guts about us, we’ve got some toughness about us, but we’ve just got to learn to endure a little bit more.
“Going in at 12-10 (behind), we were pretty confident that if we sorted that side of the game out, we could score some points.
“They just took gas out of us, and made us start making a few poor decisions.
“I’m proud of that never‑say‑die attitude. When we do start playing brave, we’ll trouble any team.”
Jon Bennison scored all their points including a hat-trick of tries and Applegarth added: “Jon’s a valuable addition to this squad – I thought he played really well tonight.”