KIERAN DIXON has said that York City Knights’ current losing streak is “upsetting” for the club’s players who are doing everything possible to turn around the situation.

York fell to a fifth straight defeat in the Betfred Championship on Sunday when they were beaten by Newcastle Thunder 28-26 at the LNER Community Stadium.

The defeat left the Knights just one place above the division’s relegation spots and on one of their worst runs since the 2013 Championship relegation year.

The club’s run of form is in marked contrast to the third-placed finish York managed in 2019 and their play-off ambitions this year, fuelled by an off-season of high-profile recruitment, which included Dixon.

“With the group itself, we’re good,” said Dixon of the squad’s current mood, “we’re working each week on fixing the little things that needed to be fixed and touched up on.

“It’s hard to sit back and see the results that are coming in. Nobody in the squad is turning up and saying ‘I can’t be bothered to perform’.

“I think there’s a lot of pressure from the fans and outside, but we as players can’t do anything about that, that’s always going to be there.

“Whether you hit form or you’re out of form, people are always going to talk and we’re the only ones that can fix it really.”

Dixon added that, even for part-time players, it can be difficult to switch off during a tough run of form, particularly in the age of social media.

He said: “We as players go in and train and do everything that we can to get the win at the weekend.

“Knowing that the results aren’t coming, that’s upsetting for us and we know what it’s like for the fans.

“We can’t ever switch off and it’s difficult because everybody is on social media. I do my best to steer away from those type of things because it can have a massive effect on people.

“Certain people can take things differently and if somebody is not a fan of your performance on the weekend or if you do something that certain fans don’t like, it becomes very difficult for that person to switch off from that.

“It can swing either way too, and social media is a powerful thing. I think that it’s hard to see bad things written about you or anybody on your team.

“I try my best to keep my head out of that because there’s people that can take it and people that can’t.”

Dixon took the main kicking responsibilities in the defeat to Newcastle as York were unable to name a single recognised half-back as their injury woes in the position exacerbated.

“They’re the most important positions on the field and they’re guys leading the team and setting set plays up," said the 28-year-old.

“We only had Danny Washbrook who has played some half back before, so it was always going to be difficult.

“We changed the game plan to do our best with what we had. I feel like the boys that went into the halves did the job well and did everything they could have.

“There were just a few mistakes and handling errors early in sets from us that then resulted in us not being able to get points.

“It’s frustrating but we’ve got to do our best to get through these setbacks.”

York will aim to prevent a sixth straight loss when they travel to Dixon's former club London Broncos on Sunday (3pm).

“I think that London have been okay this year," said Dixon. "They’ve got a young squad, there’s a lot of academy products in there, which is always nice to see.

“They’re always a side that will be challenging and they’ll always be a fit team.

"From my time there, we were always one of the best conditioned teams and that’s something that they strive to be and they want to outwork everybody else.”