York Knights head coach Mark Applegarth was left with a sense of déjà vu during Thursday's 30-10 defeat at Warrington Wolves.

The Super League newcomers opened up an early 10-6 advantage against the title hopefuls but failed to build on that encouraging start despite a gutsy effort.

A 16th loss of the season leaves York in a fight to avoid the wooden spoon in the final four rounds, albeit with a four-point buffer over bottom side Huddersfield Giants.

Applegarth has bigger plans for the Knights but accepts they are not yet at the standard required to challenge the top teams consistently.

"It is a little bit like Groundhog Day at times but we will keep going," he said.

"I expect that sort of guts and effort every week. I will never question my team on that. We just got to keep chasing the execution and quality.

"If we want to be a competitive team in this league and be pushing teams such as Warrington who will be competing for Super League, then we need to be a little bit more ruthless on ourselves and a little bit more clinical in certain areas."