Scott Galeano bagged two tries on debut, alongside efforts from captain Liam Harris, Paul McShane, Kieran Buchanan, Jordan Thompson and Jack Martin before the Knights’ skipper slotted over a drop-goal in the final minute as the hosts ran out deserved 39-6 victors.
It was a performance as sizzling as the sunshine as York raced out of the blocks, with Widnes never really recovering from conceding at a point a minute to their opponents inside the opening 16 minutes.
“I’m gutted,” Coleman told club media.
“We were poor today and we just didn’t turn up unfortunately. Normally we turn up every week, so I’ve just told them in there I just feel disappointed.
“I got some things wrong as a coach today, so I’ll take the rap for that.”
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Harris took advantage of a spilled McShane chip to open the scoring on just four minutes, then feeding Galeano with a looping cut-out pass before McShane sidestepped his way through to score his first try for the club.
And though Widnes got themselves back into the arm wrestle when Ryan Ince surged into the left corner, Buchanan finished off a fine team move on the stroke of half time to kill the visitors’ momentum.
It was not until midway through the second half that Thompson’s characteristic drive over the line added the next points for the Knights, with Galeano then diving over out wide after a neat right-side shift.
Martin took four defenders with him over the whitewash as he extended York’s lead late on before Harris put the cherry on top with a drop-goal with just seconds on the clock remaining.
“We were terrible for 15 minutes,” Coleman continued. “But then we started coming back into it and made good metres, we had a couple of opportunities and then if we score and get back in it, we’re alright in that competition.
“But then we throw the ball into touch with 45 seconds to go and it’s difficult.
“With a team like York, if you don’t turn up, you’ll get dominated. York are a quality side. If we don’t turn up as a team, we don’t deserve to have any opportunities, and we didn’t today.
“But it killed us that try before half time when we were 16-6, and just all over, it wasn’t us. Can that happen? Of course it can. But will we let it happen again? No we won’t.
“I’m just really disappointed in how we played and it was a big thing that we wanted to do well in.
“We were confident all week and we were really excited for the occasion, but we’ve just not turned up. But that can happen, and I can only apologise for that. I want to apologise to the fans because it wasn’t good enough, it won’t be accepted, and it won’t happen again.
“It’s the first time it’s happened in 18 months whilst I’ve been at the club, but I’ll take the blame for that, not the lads, I’ll take it.”
