JAMES FORD “felt cheated” by misfortune after his York City Knights side lost 26-22 to North Wales Crusaders to continue their stuttering start to the Kingstone Press League One campaign.

Ford’s men had shocked Championship side Rochdale in the Challenge Cup last week but came back down to earth with a second painful Bootham Crescent reverse to the Welshmen this term, having lost last month’s League One Cup meeting in golden-point extra time.

The Knights had thrown away a 12-point lead that day and on this occasion they led 10-0 and 16-10 only to see the Crusaders somehow take the spoils.

Ford felt his side could have been a bit more expansive at times, only the game lacked rhythm, with various little turning points going in the visitors’ favour, including what he considered inconsistent policing of the ruck speed by the officials.

“We were really controlled and we gave ourselves a couple of opportunities to put the game to bed,” said the head coach.

“At 10-0 up we had a bit of pressure on their line but we came up with an unfortunate error (Bobby Tyson-Wilson’s knock-on at a ruck after apparent interference) – a really harsh call from the referee. There were several little things.

“We put ourselves under pressure by not taking our chances and following that with some penalties, compounded by a really unbalanced performance from the referee in terms of ruck speed.

“Joe Batchelor has got penalised for a three-second play-the-ball yet there were some ridiculous ones that we had to put up with, probably approaching 10 seconds.

“There needs to be a better understanding of when a team has earned the right to control the ruck speed, when a team has won or lost a contact.

“For example, (John) Cookson’s had about three goes at Kieran Moran on the half-way line – it was ridiculous for it not to be a penalty.”

Ford, whose side also saw two conversion attempts crucially hit the woodwork, added: “We also weren’t as clinical as we should have been, and there were pieces of misfortune with loose balls.

“Take all that into consideration, and the inconsistencies in a couple of harsh obstruction calls… it’s the closest I’ve felt like I’ve been cheated.

“I’m not saying I have, but it feels like it.

“Give credit to North Wales – they showed grit to hang in there, but all that makes it more difficult than it should be.

“It’s certainly two points dropped – we expected to win that one.

“There were some similarities (with the performance in last week’s Challenge Cup game). There were some really good things that we did. But the game lacked tempo and a bit of energy.

“To be in front for 60-70 minutes and not win… we couldn’t shake them off our tails.

“On the back of a couple of penalties or an error or not taking our chances, we just kept giving them a way to stay in the game.”