ANDREW GALE was understandably frustrated after Sunday’s Roses defeat - Yorkshire’s second near-miss in three days over the Easter weekend.

But he refused to be too downbeat as he contemplated how close they had come to victories over Warwickshire and Lancashire without playing to anywhere near their best.

Coach Gale has demanded more from his players after a win, a tie and a loss from their first three Royal London one-day Cup North Group outings.

After hammering Leicestershire by 213 runs in last Wednesday’s opener at Emerald Headingley, the Vikings missed opportunities to beat the Bears and then the Red Rose.

Both games saw Yorkshire with obvious chances for victory, only for them to pass by.

And Gale insists his players had not even gone three quarters of the way to reaching their full capabilities.

Now, with Derbyshire the visitors to Headingley on Friday, they cannot afford to let the same thing happen again.

Last year, for example, no side in either group secured a top-three berth and knockout cricket with fewer than five wins.

That means the Vikings may have to win four out of their remaining five fixtures to advance.

“The last two games, we’ve been nowhere near our best. I reckon we’ve played to 70 percent of our ability,” said Gale.

“The first game (against Leicestershire), we played really well and put a marker down. And we haven’t been able to back that up.

“But there’s five games left in the competition. There’s still a lot of cricket. I’m confident that the boys will turn that around and get their thought processes right and their skills right under pressure.”

Gale said Yorkshire made costly mistakes in both innings against Lancashire, when the visitors posted 311-6 and defended their target off the last ball when they bowled Yorkshire out for 310.

“We were under-par in a few departments,” he reflected.

“We did some good stuff. I thought the first half up until the last few overs, we were excellent. We would have settled for 280 or 290.

“Then, just as we were starting to get into the game in the second half, we made some stupid errors.

“We talk about being smart in the dressing room, and to get over the line in big chases, you need to be smart. There were periods where we weren’t, taking the long boundary on, taking the spinner on, whatever.

“We’re doing a lot of things right, but those key moments in the game, we’re just not making good decisions.”

Adam Lyth captained the Vikings on Sunday, with Steve Patterson rested after a busy start to the season across County Championship and one-day cricket.

“Patto will be back Friday,” said Gale. “We just saw it as an opportunity where he could get a full week’s rest.

“He’s not the youngest in our squad, so it’s key he gets a decent rest period.”

While the four days between fixtures allowed a number of players to rest, Harry Brook scored 144 in a second-team one-day game against Nottinghamshire at York on Tuesday, which the hosts won having scored 402-6.

England’s David Willey is set for his final county appearance before the summer internationals begin at the start of next month, but Adil Rashid is unavailable.

Derbyshire won their third group match against Leicestershire at Grace Road on Wednesday, winning by seven wickets on the DLS rule following rain. They won their first against Northamptonshire and lost their second to Notts.

New Zealand fast bowler Logan van Beek is their overseas player for the entirety of the summer.