by Stuart MartelTOP billing was relinquished with a whimper at Headingley.

York Rugby League Club slipped from the peak of a five-game winning run to a second best trough against new Second Division leaders Bramley.

A hint of complacency appeared to have infected the hunger of the Wasps' uplifting climb to the top of the table.

Yet there were also Rhinos at the root of their demise - Leeds Rhinos. The visitors were consistently out-muscled by prop forward Barrie McDermott and crucially out-paced by winger Leroy Rivett.

McDermott handed out an object lesson in front row play, frequently attracting three York tacklers before off-loading, and the Great Britain international capped a stand-out display with a late try.

For the Wasps there was a return to the bad old ways of wayward passing and weak tackling, while the invention of their recent attacking play was replaced by too much predictable one-man football.

One of the few positives on a negative night was the wing performance of Alex Godfrey. The youngster's defensive play was exemplary in the face of Rivett's sheer pace.

Godfrey stamped his authority on Rivett when the Bramley left winger looked to breeze past him on the outside in the 22nd minute, the Wasps wing reeling in his opposite number before dumping him into touch.

However, Rivett roamed on to the right flank and his wandering brought about a breathtaking, game-breaking try in the 32nd minute. The on-loan Rhino waltzed through the Wasps defensive line and left full-back Mark Cain floundering at the end of a 70m burst.

Rivett's four-pointer extended his side's lead to 16-2, Wayne Freeman and Dan Potter scoring earlier tries after accepting off-loads from Marvin Golden and Barrie McDermott respectively.

York's penalty points came in the 13th minute from the boot of Chris Hopcutt and, despite Brook's walk in try just ahead of half-time, a first defeat of the month was in the offing for the visitors.

A potential route back into the reckoning was closed off by the sharp eye of Oldham referee Ian Smith, making his professional debut.

The official called knock-on against Mark Cain as he chased a bomb from stand-off John Strange, substitute Spencer Hargrave the disappointed would-be try scorer.

Instead it was the Villagers who accelerated further ahead as hooker Steve Pickles somehow found a way through a stack of York bodies to score under the posts and Neil Kite flew in at the corner from Golden's ball.

Centre Shaun Austerfield, who like Godfrey managed to rise above the malaise afflicting his team-mates, made a superb 63rd minute break but the tacklers closing in forced his final pass to go astray. The former Dewsbury centre was a key figure in a try for Strange as he fed Hopcutt, who in turn slipped a pass inside for the stand-off to score. Hopcutt kicked his third goal from as many attempts.

Wasps' scrum-half Brook and opposite number Gavin Brown sat out the last four minutes in the sin-bin for fighting, while the last word was left to the magnificent McDermott.

A pair of York players were flattened by a Rhino charge in the 77th minute as the prop plundered his first Bramley try and consigned the Wasps to defeat for the first time since Easter.

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