York Wasps paid the perfect tribute to their departed coach Lee Crooks yesterday by finally delivering the kind of committed performance he so desperately wanted to see.

Crooks only ever asked his players to give 100 per cent. Against the might of Widnes Vikings that was exactly what they produced.

It still ended in another big defeat, but not the kind of cricket score which had been mooted before the game.

Nobody would have been surprised if Super League hopefuls Widnes had hit the century mark.

But a mixture of wasted opportunities and a gutsy effort from the Wasps meant that Widnes never even got close to repeating their 90-6 win back in February.

The Wasps, with debutant scrum-half Glen Matsell making an impressive start, even came up with a couple of tries of their own.

They had not scored two tries in a match since the 30-12 defeat at Gateshead on May 20.

On that occasion captain Alan Pallister got on the scoresheet and he again led by example yesterday with the opening York try.

It came in the 32nd minute when the Wasps were 16-1 down, Andy Precious having got their other point three minutes earlier with an audacious drop goal.

Precious was the instigator of the try, squeezing the ball out of a tackle after driving towards the line for Pallister to dive over next to the posts.

Gareth Oulton's conversion made it 16-7 and, although Widnes managed another try before the break through winger Damian Munroe, trailing just 20-7 at half-time was more than the Wasps could have hoped for.

Earlier the predicted rout looked a real possibility after Widnes, who also had a debutant in prop Gareth Haggerty, son of former St Helens ace Roy, had gone 16-0 up in just 11 minutes.

The first try came after 90 seconds when full-back Paul Atcheson broke away 20 metres from his own line, raced 30 metres and had winger Chris Percival on hand to do the rest.

Powerful second rower Sean Richardson then used his strength to force himself over the line and scrum-half Martin Crompton dummied his way through, both tries converted by Craig Weston.

The Wasps rallied bravely for the rest of the half to prevent the floodgates opening but the second half was a different story.

They suffered in the scorching heat as Widnes began to get their act together.

Quick hands paved the way for Weston to touch down just two minutes after the restart and he picked himself up to tag on a superb touchline conversion.

Stand-off Ian Watson was in unstoppable form for the Vikings and he set up their next try with a brilliant arcing run.

Although he was brought down by a fine ankle tap, he was able to flick the ball up for Richardson to go in for his second.

Substitute Matthew Long then supported Phil Cantillon to get in on the act and Watson converted after taking over the kicking duties from the substituted Weston.

It was all becoming one-way traffic but Widnes were a touch fortunate with their next try. Andy Craig pounced on Munroe's kick over the line and was awarded the try despite appearing not to get downward pressure on the ball.

There was no disputing their next two though from prolific hooker Cantillon, the first a clean break from inside his own half and the second a darting run from acting half.

Wasps winger Matt Mulholland gifted Widnes a try, dropping the ball ten metres from the Vikings line for Craig to pick up and run the full length of the field. Cantillon then completed his hat-trick to make it 45 for the season before York had the final word.

Gareth Oulton picked up a stray Widnes pass 20 metres out and scampered unopposed to the line. Sadly he was unable to add the touchline conversion which would have given York their biggest score since the 30-14 defeat by Hunslet on April 13.

But at least they rediscovered some lost pride - for which Mr Crooks can be rightly proud.

Updated: 13:42 Monday, June 25, 2001