York Rugby League Club hit the self-destruct button against Batley Bulldogs and launched themselves out of the Second Division promotion places.

Coach Dean Robinson claimed the Wasps were their own worst enemies in an error-strewn 13-4 reverse at the hands of Huntington Stadium visitors Batley.

Robinson added that the fourth defeat of the season undermined much of the progress made during the recent run of five successive victories.

"There is no glossing over it, it is a bad defeat for us and it nullifies things like our victory at Lancashire Lynx, which was hard-earned," he said.

"It is now a test of character within the side and mental attitude where we go from here. We still had a side out there capable of getting a result if we had handled the football.

"I think we have been masters of our own downfall and unforced errors have led to our demise. We have not controlled the football and I lost count of the times we have bombed tries there for the taking."

However, the coach refused to dwell on the Wasps second Bulldogs reverse, believing his side can bounce back.

"If we fold now there is nothing for us. We have been here before. We lost our first two games and the season looked as if it would be long and hard but we turned it around.

"It just didn't happened for us yesterday, I am not one to believe the fates are against us but we just did not control the ball. We have over-run passes that would have led to tries and it has cost us dear.

"But playing poorly we have come out and won the second half. At 11-0 down at half-time we had already contributed to our own defeat and both their tries were soft tries.

"We expected to let them score two and us score five, but it has not happened. I have been hard on the players but I also think we have missed David Brook and Paul Darley, two of our three play-makers."

Scrum-half Andy Preston was paired with stand-off Lee Hanlan in the first half but the coach shuffled the side at half-time, with Preston sitting out the second period.

Said Robinson: "It wasn't working. I am not laying the blame on any one individual's shoulders. We were going nowhere fast.

"I am not saying it improved drastically after half-time but we showed much more enthusiasm and we went forward better.

"We did win the second half and perhaps if we had played in the whole game as we did for the last 40 minutes, we may have come away with a result."

The defeat leaves the Wasps with no points from the first two games of the six-match White Rose Championship series but Robinson insisted that was a side issue.

"I am not even worried about that. Everybody is interested in the league programme and all I am bothered about is making sure we go all out to get the points next week," said the coach.

They may go into next week's game against Doncaster Dragons at Huntington Stadium without captain Stuart Flowers and prop Steve Hill.

Second rower Flowers suffered a knee injury and Hill is thought to have damaged ankle ligaments.

See MATCH REPORT Spluttering Wasps slide out of promotion places

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