"Just not good enough" was the verdict from Lee Badauskas after York Wasps were sent tumbling to the foot of the Northern Ford Premiership yesterday.

Gateshead Thunder's 30-12 victory on Tyneside lifted them off the basement for the first time this season and left York facing a mammoth task to avoid the wooden spoon.

With just six matches left - four of them away - it is difficult to see where they can pick up any more points.

But their plight has come as no surprise to Wasps loose forward Badauskas who believes the reason is simple.

"It comes down to we're lacking four or five quality players. There's a lack of experience and a lack of quality," said the former Castleford Tiger.

"Somebody needs to put some money into the club and get quality players. That's the only way out of it."

Badauskas, one of the Wasps' most talented attacking players, admitted he may be tempted to seek pastures new unless the situation improves.

He said: "I am considering my future because I believe I've got more to offer. The only reason I'm here is because of Lee Crooks.

"I'm not disappointed for the lads that we've gone bottom because it's their fault. I'm disappointed for Lee. He's a quality coach, he's putting the work in and we're not giving him anything back."

Despite the defeat, Crooks was heartened by an impressive first half in which York raced into a 12-0 lead.

He claimed they could have won the game and reflected on missed chances in the first half by Craig Moore, who made a break only to have nobody in support, and in the second half by Phil Musgrave, who opted to throw an aimless pass inside when he was just short of the line.

"We had chances to win the game. I thought we were by far the better team in the first half," commented Crooks, who is hoping to resolve his Wasps future in the next two or three weeks.

"The first 40 was the best we've played in a long, long time

"The only times they caused us problems were when we made mistakes and put pressure on ourselves.

"But we let ourselves down in the second half and credit to Gateshead, they came back.

"We turned some cheap ball over to them and they took full advantage. They had a lot more pace on the fringes and ultimately that cost us the game.

"There was a big improvement but we've lost a chance to get a win. I hope it hurts the players as much as it hurts me."

Crooks refused to put too much emphasis on the club's lowly league position after all the problems they have encountered this season.

But he accepted that they now have a real fight on their hands to climb any higher.

"It's not going to be easy to get off the bottom of the table but there's no crime in being down there because of the position the club's been in."

Yorkshire coach Crooks made a quick exit after the game to finalise his squad selection for the forthcoming Origin game with Lancashire.

He was due to announce the squad at a press conference in Oldham today and said: "There will be one or two surprises."

York Wasps Academy were beaten 17-14 by Gateshead Academy in the curtain raiser to the first team game

Updated: 09:43 Monday, May 21, 2001