YORK Wasps Rugby League Club are on high today after their first victory for 13 months.

Strains of the Hallelujah chorus from Handel's 'Messiah' greeted their 34-22 victory over Chorley Lynx at Huntington Stadium.

It was their first win in 29 attempts, one of the longest losing streak in Northern Ford Premiership history, and saw them climb off the foot of the Northern Ford Premiership table.

The down side is that a mere 280 people - the lowest crowd in the club's history at Huntington Stadium - turned up to see it despite the club's directors appeal last week for fans to come out and back them.

Those that did brave the elements saw Leo Epifania's team come from behind at half-time, Leigh Deakin's two superb tries having kept his team in it at the break.

For his opener he said: "I was happy to take the play from the scrum, and took the first man on and powered over the line.

"The second try was a great piece of play by the lads and a fantastic ball from (centre) Carl Hall."

Deakin had been switched to the second row this season but returned to the wing yesterday.

"I'm still getting my confidence back, as it's only my seventh game since undergoing knee reconstruction," he said.

"But I enjoyed playing alongside Carl and maybe we can get a bit of an understanding going," he said.

"I will play wherever the coach wants me to play. As long as I get in the team and we're playing well I'll be happy."

The Wasps trailed 14-8 at half-time but then ran riot for half an hour with the wind behind them.

Deakin added: "The win was for Leo but we've still got a lot of work to do - even though we won we could have done a lot better.

"We've got to be happy with our first win though, and hopefully we can kick on from here."

Coach Epifania was, however, was a disappointed man despite seeing his side win for the first time since he took on the job at Huntington Stadium.

The Wasps also scored the most tries in a match since 1999, with seven touchdowns including five in 27 second-half minutes.

But Epifania said: "I'm still disappointed in a way. I'm happy for the win - I was desperate for a win and so were the club and the players.

"But from a coach's point of view, I have to look at the fact we strayed from our game-plan in the last 15 minutes of both halves and conceded sloppy tries.

"If it was a close game those mistakes could have cost us, and if I ignore those lapses I wouldn't be doing my job.

"We scored a few length-of-the-field tries and the players thought they could do it every tackle. They thought they did not have to do the hard work and we got sloppy.

"The first 20 minutes of both halves were fantastic because we stuck to the game plan. When we did that we found points coming our way.

"But I thought we got over-excited and lost patience. Towards the end of the game we gave Chorley eight consecutive sets of six, and if I said nothing about that I would not be doing my job right."

He added: "The first 20 minutes of both halves won it for us. The plan was to keep the scores pretty even up to half time and put points on the board with the wind after the break, and in those periods we did that.

"But we should have been ahead at half-time and the reason we weren't is because we got sloppy.

"Then at the end of the game we conceded two soft tries that made the scoreline worse."

"The win is good for confidence and it takes the pressure off, but I'm not going to say 'well done' and walk away as I've got a job to do as coach and I want them to perform at 100 per cent."

The previous lowest crowd at Huntington Stadium was 314 for the visit of Whitehaven on April 29 last year.

Updated: 11:47 Monday, March 11, 2002