Frustration is rapidly turning into desperation for struggling York Wasps.

Skipper Craig Booth goes over for his second try for York Wasps

Yesterday's 25-12 defeat at home to Featherstone, coupled with Workington's shock win over Widnes, leaves York just one place off the foot of the Northern Ford Premiership.

But of more concern was the fact that, once again, it was a game they could have won.

Featherstone have now won five games on the bounce and lie third in the NFP yet the Wasps were more than capable of taking the points.

"We should have had a result against Batley, we could have had a result against Hull Kingston and we could have had another result today," said assistant coach John Paterson, referring to the Wasps' last three league matches.

Of equal concern is that it is the same mistakes week-in week-out which are proving so costly. Yesterday the Wasps were guilty of giving away far too much possession and Paterson conceded that, without the ball, it is impossible to win games.

He said: "We defend really well but the problem is we have to do it too often. We gave the ball away too often and if you can't control the ball you can't control the game.

"We ended up defending for too many sets of six. We had a pack of forwards that worked their socks off but then we give possession away so they've got to start again. There comes a point when there's one set of six too many."

Paterson admitted York's continued under-achievement was frustrating, a point which was echoed by stand-off Mark Cain.

He has been disappointed by the team's performances this season, especially as he knows they are capable of producing the goods.

"We have got a lot of quality players but we haven't got the best out of the players that are here. That is frustrating," said Cain. "We're not hitting form and you have to ask why we aren't getting the best out of the players."

Cain is the first to admit he has not been playing well but believes that is partly because he is having to shoulder more responsibility than last season.

He explained: "Players are making inexperienced mistakes which is breaking moves up. And I feel I'm man-marked a lot this year and that's hard but I've got to get used to it.

"Last year we had a lot of experienced players in the back line. Most of the lads this year are unknown to NFP sides so they've left them alone a bit more and they've got in my face."

But while admitting the York attack, which is the poorest in the NFP, was disappointing, Cain also directed some of the blame at the defence.

"They broke our line a lot of times. We're chasing shadows quite a lot and missing a few one on one tackles."

However, Cain insists the poor start to the season, which has seen York take just one league win from their opening eight fixtures, is not for want of trying.

He commented: "We put that bit of extra effort in but it's not always constructive effort. The effort's there but it's not always channelled into the right areas. Our heads go down if we get six or eight points behind instead of channeling our effort and sticking to the game plan."

One plus-point for York is that Spencer Hargrave, who went off in the first half with a knee injury, should be fit for the daunting trip to second placed Dewsbury in 10 days time.

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