“WE were miles off from previous weeks.”

So declared York City Knights boss James Ford after his side came back down to earth with a bump in a 22-20 defeat at Keighley Cougars – a late James Feather try giving the hosts the spoils.

Ford’s men had stunned rugby league last week with victory over full-timers Toronto to get their Kingstone Press League One Super 8s off to a flier. But that result went to waste as they showed little of that scintillating form at Cougar Park, meaning their victory here in the regular season remains their only success at this ground since 2008.

Other results went their way, though, and they remain clear in fourth place in the race for the top-five play-offs with five games to go.

“Keighley deserved the two points,” said Ford. “We gifted them a number of opportunities and they took enough to win. They worked really hard, they’ve got some good individuals and I hope they can kick on and make the top five.

“We won’t dwell on it too long. There are lessons to learn and we will need a response next week.

“We made some poor decisions and our skill was poor. We lacked energy and didn’t get shaped up as we normally do.

“Our play fives were poor. We had spoken a lot about their back three and we needed to kick the ball well and work hard from marker, but we didn’t recognise that. We gave them seven plays a couple of times (when kicks went dead) and one or two individuals on the back of that were really poor. We were miles off from previous weeks.

“We turned up and our energy and desire were nowhere near what they should be.

“We had enough chances to win the game yet we never managed the game. We showed a lot of naivety.

“We had numerous opportunities to score, and two or three clear-cut ones, but we weren’t good enough to take them.

“Credit to Keighley and how they scrambled. We pride ourselves on our skill level and desire but what we do on a Sunday is how we’re judged.

“Keighley did alright. They asked questions of us and defended well and worked hard. They were the better team on the day.

Asked if the defeat was a big blow to the Knights’ hopes of reaching the top five play-offs, Ford said: “It’s a blow to our pride and to us as a group.

“There are plenty of games to play. Most of the teams in the 8s can beat each other. We need a response.

“We need to focus on our next game and win that.”

He added: “It was always going to be a difficult start to the 8s. Not many people expected us to beat Toronto and coming to Keighley is tough – history tells us that with our record here.

“It was still four tries apiece and we only lost on goal kicks. We didn’t deserve to win but we weren’t far away. There will be no kneejerk reaction. One or two individual performances will have to be better.

“We need to get back to the standards we showed previously.”