AN angry Mick Cook has demanded immediate improvement from his York City Knights side, otherwise they will crash out of the Northern Rail Cup at the first hurdle.

The Knights lost 29-24 at Sheffield Eagles last night following the opening day defeat to Hull KR, and now need to win at least three of their remaining four group games to progress to the knockout stages of the competition.

Cook said his side deserved what they got at Don Valley Stadium last night and has ordered his players to raise their game.

"We got outplayed and we never really showed up," he said.

"We played for small periods when we looked like causing problems.

"We ground our way back in but let things slip again and late on we conceded a 90-metre effort to lose the game when we needed to stay down their end.

"We were a bit soft in contact. We knew they would be pretty strong and we knew we would have to have good technique and good numbers in the tackle but we were outplayed for long periods.

"Some of our skills were poor. It's not been a good day at the office and we've got to bounce back at Featherstone next week."

Last night's result made it five defeats in five games this year, including the pre-season friendlies, but Cook said confidence, or a lack of it, was not a factor.

"I don't think there's a lack of confidence," he declared. "We're just not smart enough at the moment.

"The end of our sets in the first half was poor and we played most of the game inside our 40 and you can't do that. The players know that. We built no pressure.

"We expected to win but take nothing away from Sheffield. They are coached well, their kicking game is good and they're a good side.

"We got what we deserved.

"We weren't strong enough and when we got on top we didn't stay there and do enough to win. We need to do a lot of things better. We had a game-plan but we weren't quite getting there.

"The lads were very down in the changing rooms. They know they've under-performed.

"We have to be better - starting from now. We have to turn this season around.

"We have to look at it, learn from it and we need to win three games to have a chance of finishing second (in the group). I think first is out of the question now. Four wins would be great, and three is the minimum."

Updated: 09:14 Saturday, February 18, 2006