YORK City Knights boss Mick Cook refused to lay into David Buckley after the second-row was sent off less than two minutes into yesterday's defeat at Leigh Centurions.

The 24-year-old Australian was given a red card by St Helens-based referee Julian King after landing a high shot on Aaron Heremaia as the Leigh scrum-half kicked forward.

The Knights went on to lose 60-16, the club's heaviest-ever league defeat in what was their last game in LHF Healthplan National League One before relegation.

Cook accepted King's decision but did not condemn Buckley, focusing instead on what the bruising Aussie has given the Knights in his first year in England.

Said Cook: "He was going to put kick pressure on Heremaia and followed through with his body. It possibly looked worse than it was but, by the rulebook, it's probably a sending-off and he got what he deserved.

"It's a difficult one for a player who's sent off. He will have been thinking of nothing else while he was walking off and going into the showers other than he's let the boys down - and that's punishment enough for him.

"Dave Buckley has been very consistent for us this year. He's tough and he's done a lot of very good things.

"He will be disappointed with himself yesterday for what happened but overall he's been good. He's come into a different competition to what he's used to and he's worked very hard to play like we've asked him, and his performances have been very consistent."

Cook admitted finishing the season with such a defeat was "very disappointing", but applauded his players' work-rate nonetheless.

"Our tackle count was way over 300 for the game and for 12 men to do that is a big effort," he said.

"We did not help ourselves at times - we made too many errors at crucial times - but we've worked very hard and I can't knock the players for that.

"Leigh are a quality side with Super League experience across the park and they're finding good form at the right time ahead of the play-offs. They can tear you apart if you're a bit off and we were stretched all the time. They're difficult to contain, and the conditions - it was in the mid-20s out there - didn't help."

One high point for the Knights was the performance of Academy full-back Lee Mapals, who won his second Press man-of-the-match award in his second first-team appearance.

Mapals set up the Knights' first try, had a hand in the second and scored the third with a fine solo effort.

Cook said: "I thought he was outstanding at full-back. He's very small but he's very quick and it's good that we keep finding players."