YORK City Knights captain Dan Potter has condemned criticism of head coach Mick Cook and has called for fans to get behind the team's revival effort.

Cook has come under fire from some sections of supporters after a run of eight defeats in nine games, which has left the Knights out of the title race in Co-op National League Two and below the play-off zone.

But Potter has told The Press that Cook is not to blame for the slump and says the squad are keen to rally around their coach.

He also believes the players can turn things round and insists everyone at the club is giving it their all to find winning form.

"A lot of the calls from the fans are wrong. It's not Mick Cook who's going on the pitch and dropping balls, missing tackles and giving stupid penalties away," said Potter.

"I don't think it's the majority (of fans) who want him out. The players certainly don't. I know all the lads are behind him.

"I think some of the criticism is misplaced, especially that on Mick. He's not the one making mistakes. We get the right information and the right coaching. It's a matter of us executing what he wants us to do, which we've not been doing."

York-born Potter is as disappointed as anybody with the Knights' current form.

"We know the fans get frustrated, but nobody gets more frustrated than us," said Potter.

"I'm a York fan as well and, to me, how we're doing now is disappointing. My dad is a big York fan and he's getting really disappointed by it.

"All the fans are entitled to say what they want and they will get hacked off if you don't get results. We understand that.

"But we all want the same thing. We could do with vocal support instead of people getting on players' backs because you do hear what people are shouting, especially when it's quiet like on Sunday (in the defeat to Celtic Crusaders).

"We want them to stick by us. If we string a few good results together, I'm sure they'll start backing us again."

He added: "I'm getting sick of people saying, You're rubbish,' and I want to prove them wrong. We all want to prove them wrong.

"There are a lot of people doubting us but we won't give in."

Potter said confidence was key.

"Everyone is a bit down," he explained. "NL2 is tougher this year compared to when we won it (in 2005), but we knew that and we expected to be doing a lot better.

"I'm confident the squad we've got is capable of getting on a good run, but we've got to prove that.

"All we can do is pull together. We still back ourselves. Maybe you can start to have that little bit of doubt when things aren't going well, but you can't let your heads drop. We've all got to pull together and believe we can do it. It's a matter of getting that confidence back.

"We will be trying our best. The enthusiasm and effort is still there. We're just not being smart enough.

"Once we get that win, it could kick-start our year, but we've got to get that win. Hopefully it will come at Swinton this Sunday."