York's temporary coach Garry Atkins gave all the credit to his players as the Wasps gained a 26-18 win at Lancashire Lynx and prevented a slide to the bottom of the Northern Ford Premiership.

Atkins, who revealed he had signed for just one month as a player having stepped into the breach left by the resignations of coaching team Dean Robinson and John Paterson last week, was proud of his side who deserved their success at Victory Park.

"Obviously coming in to things on Tuesday I have not really been able to make much of a difference," said Atkins. "But there has been a great response from everyone involved.

"I had a feeling that they would pull it off in this game anyway because they are a good set of lads, but we have given them one or two things to think about and perhaps a different approach, hopefully some of that rubbed off."

That different approach saw Wasps produce five tries to Lynx's two, but York's early lack of discipline allowed the home side to get their noses ahead thanks to three penalties.

However, Atkins was pleased with the way the side tightened up their act.

"The lack of discipline at first was frustrating, but you can only tell them what to do and sometimes players forget everything that has been said when they get on the field," said Atkins.

"The players would probably be the first to admit that, but the good sign was that they sorted it out.

"And you have to say that the players did everything they could to stick together and they did very well after what has been a difficult week."

To add to their problems Wasps had to rely on two props in Rich Hayes and Steve Hill following Craig Booth's transfer at the end of last week, but Atkins exploded the modern myth that front row forwards need a breather.

"If a player is going well why give him a spell," said Atkins.

"The game is all about confidence and when your confidence is high as a player then you want to stay on.

"Certainly they got a little tired towards the end, but when something is working well you might as well let them carry on.

"But that goes for the whole side and I felt that we were creative, tried a lot of things and worked very hard to get our reward."

There was also praise for two-try Welsh triallist Max Ryce, who is scheduled to here next week if he has earned himself a contract, and his wing colleague Leroy McKenzie.

"I thought both wingers did very well," enthused Atkins.

"We asked them to get more involved in taking the ball up when we were in defence and I thought they both really got stuck in."

With the finite period of one month to impress, Atkins, who is due to get married in Las Vegas next month, has his work cut out but was simply taking it one step at a time.

"We have got hard work to do next week, but then when you are in our position the next game is always a tough one," he said.

"We will try to prepare the best we can and I feel that we have a good basis at the club. If we get the rub of the green then I believe that we really can surprise a few people.

"But from a personal point of view all I want to do is help out and if things go well then that is good for everyone.

"They needed someone to hold the reins and I wanted the chance. I would love to do the job full-time and maybe if we can get things going I'll be asked to carry on - we'll have to see how it goes."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.