Whitehaven piled more misery on York Wasps with another Cumbrian demolition job at Huntington Stadium.

Just a week after Workington's visit ended in a 60-10 York defeat, Haven repeated the dose with a thoroughly professional performance to keep their play-off hopes alive.

Whitehaven dominated from the outset and had the game sewn up by half-time when they led 32-0. By then the game was over as a contest but at least York made more of a fight of it in the second half.

The Wasps' usual problems - losing possession and creating little in attack - again surfaced but there were a few promising moments.

Debutant full-back Mike Hall bounced back from his early mistake which gifted Haven their first try to turn in an encouraging performance.

Also faring well was the left wing partnership of Aaron Campbell and Shaun Austerfield, while Mark Spears showed some useful touches at stand-off.

But against a Haven team in white hot form it was always going to be an uphill task and so it proved.

York got off to the worst possible start when Hall spilled Leroy Joe's bomb behind his own line and Phil Sherwen dropped on the loose ball. After consultation with both touch judges, referee Graham Shaw awarded the try and Paul O'Neil added the simple conversion.

Three minutes later they scored their second as centre David Seeds beat two men and slipped the ball inside to influential scrum-half Steve Kirkbride who rounded Hall to score.

Campbell went close to pulling one back for York following some good play by Spears and Austerfield but was brought down just short.

Haven quickly turned defence into attack as Kirkbride's 40-20 kick earned them possession deep in Wasps territory. Loose forward Robert Purdham, an early substitute for his brother Gary, picked the ball up from the back of the scrum and went for the line himself, beating Darren Crake before darting over.

O'Neil's conversion made it 16-0 in as many minutes and already York looked out out of contention.

It got worse on 23 minutes when Austerfield pulled off a good tackle on Purdham but he did well to swing the ball out to Lester whose pace took him away from the defence down the right side for a fine try.

Joe and Seeds combined to send speedy winger Mark Wallace away for the next try which O'Neil converted from the touchline.

Haven would have been even further ahead were it not for a couple of excellent tackles by Campbell to stop two certain tries.

But they did manage another before half-time, Wallace's pace taking him past two tackles for his second try.

The second half was much more closely contested but it was the visitors who started the strongest. Kirkbride finished off a good move involving Seeds, Howard Hill and Joe to extend their lead after six minutes before the Wasps deservedly got on the scoresheet.

Just when Whitehaven looked like they were going to score again, Seeds' pass was plucked out the air by substitute Ricky Hall 20 metres from the York line and he showed a superb turn of speed to stay ahead of the chasing cover and touch down under the posts, Gareth Oulton adding the extras.

The Wasps were enjoying a good spell and Matt Mulholland almost went in for their second but was tackled into touch just inches from the line after a 30 metre run.

In typical fashion Whitehaven, aided by a penalty, went straight back down to the other end of the field and Lester burst through from close range to score.

O'Neil completed a profitable individual afternoon by adding a try to his seven goals, then Seeds completed the scoring two minutes from time.

It brought the curtain down on three successive home games for York, who now face the daunting prospect of playing six of their remaining nine games on the road.

York Wasps 6 Whitehaven 54

YORK: Mike Hall 7, Simon Wray 6, Matt Mulholland 6, Shaun Austerfield 8, Aaron Campbell 7, Mark Spears 7, Danny Waite 6, Neil Harmon 7, Alan Pallister 6, Andy Hutchinson 7, Mick Ramsden 6, Darren Crake 6, Lee Badauskas 7.

Subs: Gareth Oulton (Waite 48) 6, Shane Cochrane (Pallister 34) 6, Ricky Hall (Hutchsinosn 34) 7, Nathan Pincher (Crake 24) 6. Re-subs: Hutchinson (Cochrane 54). Sin-binned: None Sent off: None Penalties: York 9, Haven 9 Scrums won: York 9, Haven 12 Attendance: 314

WHITEHAVEN: Wesley Wilson, Paul O'Neil, David Seeds, Howard Hill, Mark Wallace, Leroy Joe, Steve Kirkbride, Phil Sherwen, Aaron Lester, Dean Vaughan, Spencer Miller, Gary Smith, Gary Purdham. Subs: Lee Kiddie (Joe 50), Robert Purdham (G Purdham 11), Ryan Campbell (Miller 70), Tony Cunningham (Vaughan 26).

Sin-binned: None Sent off: None

Updated: 13:02 Monday, April 30, 2001