JAMES RATCLIFFE has offered an olive branch to the two players axed by York City Knights – but told them they must buy into the team ethos the club are trying to build.

That ethic was to the fore yesterday when the Knights pulled off a shock 24-22 Championship One win over previously unbeaten Blackpool in a Huntington Stadium thriller.

The game was decided by a 78th-minute try by Tom Lineham after a remarkable one-handed pass from fellow winger Dennis Tuffour, just moments after the Panthers thought they had won it with a late try of their own.

It prompted wild celebrations among the players and in the stands, and it all came at the end of a difficult week for the Knights and in particular head coach Ratcliffe – who lost Player of the Year Mark Applegarth to an Australian club while also telling star duo Joe McLocklan and Danny Hill they could find new clubs amid criticism of their attitudes.

As revealed on thepress.co.uk on Saturday, McLocklan also now faces a club fine for failing to show for the reserves match at Oldham on Saturday. Hill, too, had previously refused to play for the reserves.

Ratcliffe has now opened the door for the pair to get back into the club’s thinking – but reiterated the Knights’ policy of only picking players who give 100 per cent to the cause.

“The option is there for them to stay, but they’ve got to buy into what we want them to do,” he said.

“People will say you’ve got to pick your best side every week. But, for me, you should reward people who put the effort in. That gives you good morals and it brings the good people to the front.

“It’s my head that might have to roll for not picking the ‘best’ side, but that’s how I want to play my teams.”

That policy was seemingly vindicated yesterday in a real team performance just seven days after the disappointing defeat at Rochdale, which, following other indifferent displays, prompted him to wield the axe.

Ratcliffe added: “The true York City Knights stood up (yesterday). Hopefully it will carry on.

“We’ve shown a great desire to win the game. If you’ve not got it (the attitude in defence), you’re not going to win a game. We showed the right attitude in defence. We wanted the ball and we’ve attacked them when they’ve had the ball.”

Under pressure Ratcliffe – who seemed more emotional than normal in his post-match interview – now wants the team to kick on after seeing them rise from seventh to fifth in the table.

He said: “The first 24 hours after last Sunday felt more like 68 hours. In the five days after that, the players have been fantastic in training again – but this week they put it into practice on the field.

“I said to them before the game let’s put in a performance. I said after the game let’s scratch the first half of the season and let’s push on from here.

“What we can’t do is dwell on what we’ve done wrong and right before now. What we can do is see what’s in front of us. There’s no point beating (high-flying) Oldham and then Blackpool but losing to people like – and no disrespect to them – Rochdale and Swinton.”