What a difference a week can make in sporting circles.

Just last Monday it was all doom and gloom in York following City's slump to the bottom of the Football League and the Wasps' record defeat by Widnes.

Five days later and everything has changed.

City picked up their first win of 2001 on Tuesday then the Wasps followed suit with their opening win of the season against Gateshead.

Is the worst now behind both clubs? The Wasps in particular must be congratulated for the way they bounced back from the Widnes debacle.

All the players now at the club are obviously there because they want to be, and that was evident in the team spirit which they showed against Gateshead.

Thunder are by no means a quality side and the Wasps shouldn't get too carried away, but, as Lee Crooks pointed out, if you get results against the poor sides then you will have enough confidence to have a real go at the better sides.

It wasn't the result that was so impressive against Thunder, more the attitude of the players.

They played with confidence, aggression, threw the ball about well and looked like a team who believed in themselves. That is no mean feat after the Widnes experience.

I'm sure Crooks' decision to lead by example has played its part. The players know they have a coach who is prepared to put his reputation, and his body, on the line for the Wasps cause.

He is a true professional which is just what the Wasps need to steer them to the light which is now emerging at the end of the tunnel.

There were a few familiar faces among the crowd at the Gateshead match on Thursday.

Former Wasps Michael Smith and Mark Cain were both on hand to witness their old club's first win of the season, as was York-based GB student international Anthony Howcroft, who is now on the books of Hunslet.

Cain and Smith have been enjoying some success with their current clubs. Smith earned words of praise from Castleford assistant coach Graham Steadman for his performance in the Tigers' Alliance team's recent defeat by Hull.

He said: "Mike's preparation was good, he gave me a strong 80 minutes and could have put himself in contention for the Leeds match."

In the end Smith just missed out on a place in the team for today's Challenge Cup clash with the Rhinos but could be in line for a big season in Super League.

Cain scored a hat-trick of tries for Dewsbury in last week's 70-0 demolition of Chorley. He was deputising at stand-off for the injured Richard Agar.

There was a definite sense of deja vue this week on reading this quote from John Wright, chairman of troubled Doncaster Dragons.

He said: "I am 99.9 per cent certain we will pull through this crisis. The main problem is that it is a historic debt which arose in 1999, but the club weren't aware of the debts until later as proper books were not being kept."

Haven't we heard that somewhere before?

Congratulations to York's 'adopted' referee Julian King.

King, from St Helens, has become a familiar figure to Wasps fans after taking charge of York's last three home games.

Until recently he was in fact on trial but became a fully-fledged member of the Grade One ranks on the strength of his performance in the York-Villeneuve match.

Congratulations are in order too for Matt Mulholland and Tim Rumford.

Both players opened their Wasps try-scoring sccount in Thursday's win over Gateshead which was just reward for their best performances so far.

Topping the try-scoring chart is Chris Allen, who scored his fourth of the season against Gateshead.