If York Wasps stand-in coach Dean Thomas thought he had problems before the Good Friday clash with Doncaster, he now knows that was nothing.

While the 70-8 reversal at Belle Vue was humbling, what will cause Thomas, covering for coach Garry Atkins who is away in America, more anxiety is the fact that the Wasps camp could have lost three more players through injury.

It means that Thomas may have to turn to the Wasps Academy side to fill in the gaps as they prepare to take on Keighley Cougars at the Huntington Stadium on Easter Monday (3pm).

Full-back John McCracken, centre Andy Preston and prop Mick Hagan were all injured in the drubbing at Doncaster and to add to Thomas's woes stand-off Craig Robinson is not eligible to face the Cougars as he is on loan from the Lawkholme Lane club and therefore cannot play against them.

"The situation is pretty dire," said Thomas. "We picked up three more injuries and while John McCracken may be able to play, it is yet to be seen whether he suffered concussion, Pretson is definitely out having cracked a bone in his wrist and Hagan has a back injury.

"With Andrew Lambert and Darren Callaghan both also out for another two weeks, it means we have to hope that Mark Cain and Andy Hill, who were missing for the Doncaster, game are available.

"However, they are at best 50-50 and I will probably have to start the game myself against Keighley."

With Paul Darley also under treatment for a knee injury sustained at Doncaster, Thomas has every right to fear the worst.

"We could be able to raise 17, but at the moment we are looking at hopefully having 15 available," he said.

"And we went into the game at Doncaster with the likes of Matt Woodcock and McCracken carrying ankle injuries."

He may turn to the club's youngsters but it will be a big step for them to face a Keighley side, who followed last weekend's 66-6 mauling of Barrow with a hard earned 24-23 home win over Hunslet Hawks on Good Friday.

However, Thomas was not using injuries as an excuse for the manner of defeat at Doncaster, which was to say the least remarkable.

At half-time the Wasps trailed 14-8 and had rattled their rivals, but ten second half tries saw Doncaster stroll away with the game, inflicting York's heaviest league defeat of the season and lifting themselves into second place in the Northern Ford Premiership.

"The attitude of our guys, given the fact we had a tough week with injuries and our preparation suffered, was excellent and I have to believe that we can turn things round against Keighley," said Thomas.

"We competed really well in the first half and at half-time we had a good talk and the boys seemed really fired up for the second half.

"At the end of the day the injuries cannot be an excuse for what happened in the second half because we were in a position where I felt we could win, but then having conceded three tries on the bounce we wilted."

sport@ycp.co.uk

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