YORK City boss Russ Wilcox was left “raging” after his side went down 3-0 at Northampton.

A penalty save by Bobby Olejnik from Marc Richards also spared the third-bottom Minstermen a greater defeat than the one inflicted by goals from Chris Hackett, Brendon Moloney and Ivan Toney.

Wilcox’s fury was heightened after selecting the same starting line-up that had performed so well seven days earlier during the 2-0 home win over Tranmere.

The fuming Bootham Crescent chief said: “I am raging and rightly so. I thought we had turned the corner with a solid team to help us move up the league and then we produced that.

“I feel sorry for the supporters who travelled a long way and spent a lot of money, so I apologise for that showing. I am so disappointed and there were a lot of home truths spelt out in the dressing room because we are in trouble.

“There are no excuses. We weren’t good enough and that needs to be addressed within the small squad we have got.

“I spoke about the importance of not being a yo-yo team before the match but to play like that with the same team that did so well to beat Tranmere 2-0 is so, so frustrating as a manager. It showed why we are down where we are.

“Good teams grind out wins when they play badly, but we seem to need to be at our max to get a point or three and that can’t always be the case. I feel low and sometimes somebody needs to motivate the motivator because I feel exactly how our fans must have done travelling back up the motorway.

“But I must put my mask back on and get the players at it again by working them hard on the training ground.”

Wilcox went on to bemoan a lack of combat that saw his side concede goals at the start of each half, pointing out: “We weren’t good enough without the ball.

“We know we’ve got creative players who can open doors but the other side of the game disappointed me because we weren’t competitive enough and you could see that after two minutes. We talked before the game about how Northampton are playing on the front foot at the moment and pressing teams high up the pitch.

“They have been starting games well and had scored after 30 seconds against Morecambe, but we let in a cheap goal after four minutes. We then had the wind at our backs for the second half but let in another cheap goal and, then, they were comfortable at 2-0 up.”

Left-back Malvind Benning endured a nightmare afternoon during the last match of his one-month loan spell from Walsall.

He conceded the penalty after his weak header back to Olejnik had earlier led to the Cobblers’ opening goal but Wilcox was in no mood for the defender to carry the can alone, despite admitting: “The first goal was awful.

“I won’t camouflage things. He had the wind behind his back and it was a simple ball that should have been dealt with.

“It wasn’t just down to Malvind though. Individual errors cost us the game but people make them.

“I did myself as a player but what you have to show as a player after that is the character and steal to come out fighting and our second half was inexcusable.”

Wilcox declined to confirm, however, if he would now seek to extend Benning’s stay.

“I will address that on Monday and that’s all I want to say on that subject,” he said.

Diego De Girolamo, meanwhile, was introduced as an early second-half substitute on his return for a third loan spell from Sheffield United.

On the Italian under-20 international, who will join up with his country this week before returning in time to face Exeter at Bootham Crescent next weekend, Wilcox added: “You are hoping he will produce a bit of magic and he had a couple of moments when he got in pockets of space but we know the likes of him, Michael Coulson, Josh Carson and Emile Sinclair can do that.

“We’ve got some really good offensive players but we’ve got to be better without the ball and that’s what will be working on before the Exeter game.”