JAMES FORD said he is “really hurt” by York City Knights’ 37-18 defeat to Bradford Bulls at Odsal Stadium.

York were convincingly beaten by Bradford in what was their biggest defeat in a regular season Betfred Championship game since the 56-6 loss at Toronto Wolfpack almost two years ago.

The Knights were guilty of conceding numerous penalties which set the platform for the in-form Bulls to earn a sixth consecutive victory against their rivals.

“We lost the game because we had some had some individuals out there who were miles below the standards that we expect,” reflected head coach Ford.

“At key moments, we let the pressure off Bradford with yardage penalties, kicking the ball dead, poorly selected offloads, missing tackles, missing detail in defence, forward passes.

“You can’t come and expect to beat a play-off contender that Bradford are, for sure, with all those bits in your game.

“Having said that, I think the Matty Marsh no-try and the Kieran Dixon break, where he spilled it, were really big momentum swingers.

“I think Bradford scored the next set after one of them, so it’s an 18-point swing.

“But, that sometimes happens and what we can control is the little bits of detail that we’re not quite getting right and we haven’t got them right for the last three weeks.”

York’s regularity at giving away penalties was particularly costly, Ford added.

“Ben Thaler (referee) is keen on yardage penalties so we spoke about that,” he said. “The high shots we’ve come up with, it’s just laziness.

“I expect to see them this week working really hard at the conditioning, lateral movement and their tackle technique, because it’s put us under pressure.”

The Knights have enjoyed great success over the past two seasons, with defeats of this nature being increasingly rare.

Ford said: “These kind of things are sent to test us and it’s about how we bounce back. We’ve got some characters in there, some leaders in there.

“But, I’m really hurt by that, I know the supporters will be and the players are. We will come back."