YORK City Knights coach Richard Agar today made no Challenge Cup-related excuses for the 36-12 defeat at Batley, simply saying his side were "not on the money".
The Bulldogs, a National League One side, ended the Knights' record-breaking six-game unbeaten run and completed an Arriva Trains Cup double over Agar's men, who slipped to third in the Yorkshire group and out of an automatic qualifying spot.
It came in between the breathtaking Powergen Challenge Cup win at Featherstone last week and the big quarter-final at Huddersfield next week. But Agar reckoned his injury-hit troops had suffered more from a hard run of games yesterday than their Cup heroics.
"It's hard to say (whether it was a hangover from last week)," he said. "I would like to think not, although I'm aware we've had a very tough run of games and if it's a hangover it's probably from a difficult month rather than one game.
"I'm not going to make excuses, though. We want tough games week in week out, which is what you get in National League One. Batley will have them, and that's what we need to get our standards up to."
He added: "If the players were thinking about next week to the point it affected their performance this week, they might not be playing next week. They need to take care of performances week in week out.
"If players look ahead they're in danger of getting bitten on the backside and maybe that happened in a couple of instances yesterday."
The Knights failed to take advantage of the wind and the famous Mount Pleasant slope in the first half as they trailed 18-2 at the break and conceded two more quick tries after the interval before staging a mini-revival.
"It was cosmetic," said Agar of the performance. "We turned up, got dressed, warmed up well and went out.
"We had a lot of possession in their quarter in the first half-hour but never really asked too many questions of their defensive line for a number of reasons. We were probably short on intensity. We just didn't play with the same intensity as we did last week. We weren't quite on the money.
"I was disappointed with one or two of their tries - there were poor decisions in our defensive line and that is something that will need rectifying.
"We had a terrible start to the second half but a positive thing is the players did not throw the towel in and we probably should have nicked another try or two."
Another positive was the performance of try-scorer Simon Friend, who was singled out for praise. "I thought he proved what a good signing he was," said Agar. "In tough circumstances he worked exceptionally hard."
The Knights meanwhile stuck by his decision to rest captain Lee Jackson, with Jim Elston playing the whole game at hooker. The Evening Press believes Jackson has had a slight shoulder injury albeit not serious enough to stop him playing if selected.
"Going into next week we will need his experience," said Agar. "We've got to prioritise. We've had a really tough month and we're mindful we've got five games in two weeks coming up.
"Had the squad been a bit deeper there would have been one or two more getting rested. We thought yesterday was a good day to rest him and I will stand by that 100 per cent. He might have made a difference although it's unlikely he would have affected the result and he is one guy we need on board next week and the weeks after."
Updated: 10:16 Monday, March 22, 2004
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