JAMES RATCLIFFE said he felt for the fans after seeing his York City Knights side thrashed by arch-foes Hunslet.

The Hawks continued their challenge for the Championship One title with a 46-10 victory at Huntington Stadium – 38 of their points being scored by players who were at York last season.

Meanwhile, the Knights, who were hoping last week’s win at leaders Oldham could kick-start a promotion push, were left in mid-table.

Head coach Ratcliffe said: “I’m really disappointed for myself, my team and the fans. It wasn’t so much Hunslet winning as us losing.

“Some of the players need to have a look at themselves and their efforts. It’s not good enough. Maybe we need to bring other players in.”

Ratcliffe said the big difference between the teams was the transition from attack to defence.

“Our finishes (to sets) were woeful, and any team with the quality of Hunslet would hurt you if you allow them to play in your half,” he said.

“They didn’t try anything flash. They had a nice kick finish (to their sets), always putting us on our back foot.”

Ratcliffe was not happy with referee Dave Merrick, who sin-binned Jack Stearman and sent off Chris Clough in a game which never boiled over despite the history between the clubs.

“I’ve no idea why (Clough got sent off),” said Ratcliffe. “He’s apparently come up with a ‘career-ending tackle’. I can’t comment on it until I’ve seen the video.

“But we’ve lost Jack Stearman for ten minutes for a hand in the ruck, but two minutes later we didn’t even get a penalty for the same thing.

“The referee was woeful. I really can’t comment on the referee though. It’s not worth it. We were beaten by the better side, but it (the refereeing) doesn’t help along the way.

“Losing Richard Blakeway (early on to injury) also didn’t help. He’s a big influence – he’s a good leader and is good with ball in hand, as he showed for our first try.”

Hawks player-coach Paul March was delighted with the win – even though it did not stop his side dropping from second to third on points-difference following Blackpool’s record-breaking 132-0 win over Gateshead He said: “I thought we played for 40 minutes of the 80. Our defence was very good for the full 80 but we bombed six or seven tries and if we had taken our chances the scoreline could have been a lot more.”

Asked what he thought of his old team, March – one of nine ex-Knights in Hunslet’s 17, seven of whom followed him to south Leeds after his sacking by York last summer – said: “They went forward well but didn’t have options on the back of it.

“They missed Chris Thorman and (fellow half-back) Jonathan Schofield wasn’t playing either. But you’ve got to give credit to my lads.”

March thought both cards were correct. He said: “We were both on warnings for sin-binnings so there can’t be complaints on that.

“I played with Chris Clough and I’ve coached him. It’s a dangerous tackle when you wrap legs around and come down on a player. It’s a potential career-ending tackle.

“The ref got some decisions wrong but both those were correct.

“We were stepping on eggshells as well but I thought our discipline was very good.”