JOHN CARTWRIGHT bemoaned Catalans Dragons’ “simple errors” as they ended their home campaign with a whimper against York Knights.
Having led 10-0 in the early stages, and 16-14 at the break, York kept the Dragons scoreless in the second half to run out 28-16 victors.
That was despite the visitors seeing out the match a man light after Jesse Dee’s sin bin for a professional foul.
It was far from the perfect send-off for captain Benjamin Garcia, who will join the club’s backroom staff upon his retirement, nor Tommy Makinson, who will also hang up his boots at the end of the campaign.
And a frustrated Cartwright conceded: “It was disappointing tonight.
“We gave ourselves a chance at the end (when York were down to twelve), but we didn’t play smart.
“There’s a couple of poor kick options and some wrong plays on play one and are unforgivable.”
Catalans lost Alrix Da Costa and Edenn Rogers-Smith, who will join Hull FC and Leeds Rhinos respectively next season, to head knocks during the first half, activating young outside back Lenny Marc from 18th man.
“The problems we had with our interchanges in the second half were a major thing,” explained Cartwright.
“We lost three players in the first half and I had a doubt about one of the backs so we named an 18th man who was an outside back and that went against us.
“Having said that, we hung in there enough to give ourselves a chance at the end.
“It was simple errors how we let York back into the game and contact in tackles. You won’t win many games if you keep doing that.”