The wooden spoon is looming for York Wasps after they were dumped at the foot of the Northern Ford Premiership by basement rivals Gateshead Thunder.

It had all looked so good for York when they stormed into a 12-0 lead midway through the first half.

But with Gateshead in buoyant mood following their first win of the season last week, the home side raised their game to steal the initiative while York wilted under a barrage of Thunder pressure.

After edging in front 16-12, Gateshead pressed home their advantage to score three times in the last 15 minutes and clinch the points which lifted them off the bottom for the first time.

At least York can take solace in their first half performance when they played some of their best rugby of the season.

A solid defence and enterprising attack caught Gateshead off guard and threatened to ruin the home fans' party.

The return of Lee Badauskas, Craig Moore and Neil Harmon from injury made a huge difference, all three playing influential parts.

Equally impressive were the 'old guard' of captain Alan Pallister and second rower Mick Ramsden who had their best games in a long time.

After Carl Briggs had missed a penalty for Gateshead, it was Ramsden who opened the scoring on 11 minutes.

Moore took York deep into Gateshead territory with a 60 metre break and won a penalty after being dragged into touch. From the next set of six, Ramsden took Gareth Oulton's pass and found a gap to arc through the defence, leaving Oulton an easy conversion.

It got even better five minutes later. Mark Spears was stopped just short and Pallister popped up on his outside to take a lovely pass, shrugging off a tackle before touching down in the corner.

Oulton was equal to the task, sending the touchline conversion straight between the uprights.

There was only one team in it at that stage but to their credit Gateshead fought their way back.

Stand-off Scott Dyson was increasingly influential and his superbly timed short pass sent loose forward Chris Parker bursting through the defensive line at full throttle to dive over the line and Briggs tagged on a good conversion.

It was end to end action for the remainder of the half. Pallister went close when he stole the ball 10 metres from the Thunder line, then Moore made another terrific 40 metre break but was brought down 10 metres short.

There was even the rare sight of a scrum won against the head which almost resulted in a try for Thunder hooker Roy Southernwood but he was held up inches short by Pallister.

There was a sense the tide was turning when Gateshead levelled matters early in the second half.

Briggs regathered his own grubber kick after it was missed by Hall and, although he was tackled by Badauskas, it wasn't long before superb full-back Micky Johnson jinked his way through. Briggs' conversion made it all square at 12-12.

With the home crowd in full voice, Gateshead gradually began to dominate proceedings. They finally took the lead on 58 minutes when local lad Paul Thorman sold an outrageous dummy to Hall and went in from 25 metres out, Briggs surprisingly missing a relatively easy conversion.

The game began to slip away from York 15 minutes from the end when Gateshead extended their lead. The move started on halfway and involved Dyson, Johnson and Leon Williamson before Wes McGibbon handed on to Thorman to score his second try.

Briggs' towering touchline conversion left York needing to score twice which proved unattainable.

Phil Musgrave scorched down the left side on a 50 metre run but threw the ball aimlessly inside as Johnson came across to cover.

Gateshead soon put the game beyond reach when York old boy Gareth Lloyd's inside pass allowed Williamson to sprint clear and score, Briggs adding the extras.

In the final minute Briggs intercepted Pallister's pass five metres from his own line and raced the length of the field to touch down.

It was the final insult in a match which had promised so much yet delivered more misery. The end of this season can't come soon enough.

Gateshead 30, York Wasps 12

GATESHEAD THUNDER: Micky Johnson, Paul Thorman, Wes McGibbon, Gareth Lloyd, Leon Williamson, Scott Dyson, Carl Briggs, Lee Garside, Roy Southernwood, Andy Grundy, Jim Carlton, Steven Bradley, Chris Parker.

Subs: Stephen Rutherford (McGibbon 69), Paul Sebine (Wilkinson 73), Steve Hall (Southernwood 56), Mark Wilkinson (Grundy 52). Re-subs: Grundy (Garside 74), Wilkinson (Lloyd 77). Sin-binned: None Sent off: None

YORK WASPS: Mike Hall 6, Matt Mulholland 6, Craig Moore 7, Mark Spears 6, Phil Musgrave 6, Mark Dooley 6, Gareth Oulton 7, Neil Harmon 7, Alan Pallister 8, Andy Hutchinson 7, Simon Wray 6, Mick Ramsden 8, Lee Badauskas 8.

Subs: Danny Waite (Innes 65), Darren Crake (Mulholland 52) 6, Andy Innes (Dooley 62), Shane Cochran (Hutchinson) 6.Re-subs: Hutchinson (Cochran 58), Mulholland (Oulton 70). Sent off: None

Penalties: Thunder 7, York 3

Scrums won: Thunder 4, York 9

Attendance: 675

HT: Thunder 6, York 12

Referee: Paul Lee (Leigh)

Man of the match: ALAN PALLISTER: Back to his best with an all-action display. Made vital tackles, busy in attack and rewarded with fine try.

Updated: 11:46 Monday, May 21, 2001