Hat-trick poacher Leigh Deakin today trained his sights on a long stretch of success for York Rugby League Club.

The winger's wonderful treble fired the Wasps into third place in the Second Division and ended the two-year unbeaten Deepdale run of Lancashire Lynx.

Deakin also burst through the 50 career tries barrier with his second score in yesterday's 25-12 victory, the Wasps' third consecutive win.

Said man-of-the-match Deakin: "It is nice to get to 50 tries - it has been a long time coming. We proved again that when we use the backs no one can touch us. There is no reason why we cannot go on undefeated."

Deakin's half century of tries have been shared between two spells with the club.

The winger plundered 38 tries in 47 games before heading for Hull in 1995 and the remaining 13 tries have followed in 19 games since his 1997 Wasps return.

Deakin revelled in the space afforded him by a Lancashire defence that doubled up on the Wasps' big name debutant Fata Sini.

Coach Dean Robinson declared that was the reason behind the successful ploy of switching Sini from the bench to the starting line-up.

"That was perhaps Deakin's best game so far. His defence was rock solid and his attack, when nothing else was on, was also superb and we know he can finish," said Robinson.

"We brought Fata into the side to give Lancashire something to think about. He looked solid in defence but he is ring rusty. They had to pay him respect and we capitalised on that."

Inflicting Lancashire's first league defeat at Deepdale was an added feather in the York cap, declared the coach.

"We are the first team to beat them there and deservedly so. It was a great effort from all 17. We went in behind at half-time through our own mistakes," he said.

"The defence in the second half was superb, we snuffed out everything they threw at us and capitalised with some good attacking play. It was a fantastic performance."

Although the Wasps are now challenging leading pair Bramley and Barrow for Second Division supremacy, Robinson believes his players have yet to hit top form.

"We still have not got it exactly as I want it to be on the play-making side. But what we have got is players who can fill in and make sure we keep going forward if things are not going to plan," he said.

See MATCH REPORT Dazzling Deakin

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