Home-grown talent Mick Hagan is on a triple-shooting mission to kick-start York Wasps' season.

The young prop forward believes February could prove to be a make or break month for the Wasps, who are still without a league win following yesterday's 37-6 defeat by Featherstone Rovers.

The postponement of the matches against Sheffield Eagles and Gateshead Thunder last month mean York have so far faced only one team in the bottom half of the table.

But with those two games rearranged for February 22 and 25 respectively, and the Silk Cut Challenge Cup tie against Villeneuve next week, Hagan is banking on a profitable few weeks.

"We need three out of three, nothing else will do," he insisted. "We need to beat Villeneuve to get a big tie in the next round of the cup and they are two big games in the league.

"We just need a kick-start in the league and when that happens I think we will do well.

"We just have to play for a full 80 minutes as a team instead of 20 minutes here and there."

The pre-season departures of first choice props Rich Hayes and Steve Hill, coupled with the recent exits of forwards Michael Smith, Andy Hill and Darren Hughes, mean 22-year-old Hagan is playing an increasingly important role in the squad.

While his appearances over the last couple of years have been sporadic and mainly from the bench, Hagan now finds himself firmly in the front line.

He is relishing the opportunity, but was critical of his own performance yesterday.

"I'm happy with the way I've been playing but I took a knock today and didn't have a good game. I played for 70 minutes last week which is the longest I've played for a good few games so my fitness is good," he said, adding that the recent additions to the squad meant everyone was now under pressure.

"I think I've got to try a bit harder. We've got enough players pushing for a spot now. We had five people out today who could come in at any time. If you don't play well you know that you aren't going to be playing the next week."

Hagan claimed yesterday's result "didn't reflect the game" but said the Wasps were guilty of playing in 10 minute spells.

Coach Lee Crooks was more critical, claiming they "handed the game to Featherstone on a plate."

"The only positive to come out today was that the game was on. I'm very disappointed," he said. "Our preparation was very good, we trained very well during the week and at 10-0 down at half-time I thought we were in with a chance.

"We needed to do the basics right and work to the areas of the field we had done in training but unfortunately we've got too many players that want to do their own thing. We have got to play the way we train.

Updated: 09:18 Monday, February 05, 2001