FORMER England boss Steve McNamara admitted being "pleased to get out of here with a win" after his Catalans Dragons side scraped past York City Knights in the Ladbrokes Challenge Cup.

McNamara reckoned his Super League full-timers were never "in danger of losing" Sunday's fifth round tie en route to a 34-22 victory at Bootham Crescent.

But they needed a penalty and two late tries - aided by some controversial refereeing decisions - to pull away from York's spirited part-timers, who had drawn level at 10-10 and were still well in the contest when 22-16 down in the second half.

"We're really frustrated with how we're playing at the minute but I think a lot of that was down to what York did and we're pleased to get out of here with a win," said McNamara, whose team sit bottom of the top flight.

"I don't think to be honest we were in danger of losing the game, I didn't think at any stage that was the scenario, but they kept it close and stayed in it.

"Every time we looked like we'd move away from them, they found their way back into the contest."

On their League One hosts, McNamara, the ex-Bradford chief who also had a stint coaching in the NRL, said: "I thought they were really good. I knew that before the game.

"We'd done a fair bit looking at them as a team and understanding them as a club and what they're trying to do.

"They've got a good coach in James Ford and a good set of players, a big set of players, and they made it difficult for us."

He added: "We've got the job done but we're not happy with how we've played. There were spells where we looked okay but we're a little bit off at the minute. We've got to get back and regroup for a big game next week against Hull.

"I thought we were close to getting it back at stages but credit to the opposition, they fought really hard, I was impressed with them."