YORK City skipper David McGurk admitted the whole team needed to accept responsibility for Saturday's shocking 6-1 defeat at Crawley Town.

McGurk, who has been handed the captain's armband since Manny Panther's omission from the squad, felt nobody came out of the game with any credit, although he did feel sympathy for 18-year-old 'keeper Josh Mimms in only his second senior appearance.

The City centre-back said: "You can maybe afford a couple of players having an off day but not all 11. There are no excuses for any of it. It just wasn't good enough.

"Maybe we need more leaders and communication from everybody because we seemed to go under after their second goal. Nobody came out of the game with any credit and it's a horrible feeling.

"The goals that went in were really sloppy and you look back and wonder what's gone on. I'm glad we've got another game tomorrow because we've got to try and put things right.

"I must also apologise to the fans for seeing what they did, because they came a long way and paid good money."

Three of Crawley's goals came from dead-ball situations and McGurk agreed that the team's inability to defend set-plays has proven costly all season.

He said: "It's up to everybody to take responsibility.

"People look at the centre-halves and I will hold my hand up because there have been times this season when I've lost my man, but everybody has to do their job and that's difficult to sort out on the training ground.

"It needs to happen on the pitch."

McGurk also defended rookie Mimms from the lion's share of criticism.

He said: "Josh could maybe look at himself for one goal when he was lining up the wall for the free-kick, but he's done well since he came in.

"It's the lads in front of him, including myself, who haven't been good enough defensively. That's not just been the case at Crawley but at other times this season."

Despite City now lying 17 points from a play-off place with just six matches left to play, McGurk also insisted the season cannot be allowed to end on a sour note.

He said: "There might only be three weeks left but we've still got six games to play and, in many ways, that's still a big chunk of the season left.

"We can't just throw away what we achieved from November to March."