York Acorn Beat Blue & Golds 13-6 At The Leisure Centre

York Acorn inflicted the first defeat on Beverley beating the blue and gold 13-6 at the Beverley Leisure Centre.

As the low score-line suggests, the game was something of a grind. A York Acorn outfit brought size and bulk all around the park and won the arm-wrestle.

Of the 3 games, Beverley has played so far this was the toughest. The game saw very few clean breaks from either side.

The kick-off went out on the full by Beverley immediately putting them under pressure. The resulting sets close to the Beverley line saw the visitors convert the pressure into points. Ash Robson crossed for the York outfit converted by Anthony Chiltern after 6 minutes.

The encounter was a quality one in many ways, as both sides had high completion rates from their sets of six. Both full backs were frequently tested under the high. Billy Riby did particularly well with one very difficult ‘bomb’ in the 12th minute taking it in very heavy traffic.

At the half hour mark, after forcing an Acorn defender over his own line from a kick, the hosts got on level terms. After a few raids on the visiting line, Jack Howdle crashed over for Josh Poskitt to bag the extras.

As the interval approached Acorn looked to have regained the lead when one of their regular cross-field kicks on the last tackle saw their winger touch down. The referee ruled out a try for offside following the intervention of the linesman. Both sides turned around at 6-6.

It was an afternoon for those grinding out the hard yards to shine. For the home side, Dan Smart and man of the match Alfie Hart-Fisher were impressive in this area. On debut, Charlie Gay was lively around the ruck areas.

Ten minutes into the second half, Ryan Gallagher pounced on a cross-field kick to score and restore the visitor’s lead. Chiltern converted to make the score 12-6. The restart kick went out on the full prompting of a long-range penalty goal attempt by Acorn that went wide.

Both sides continued to trade sets close to each other’s line in the second half. The visitors continued to pose a threat with their cross-field kicks and looked to have produced a try from one in the 58th minute. The linesman again intervened and ruled 3 Acorn attackers to be offside. Jack Howdle went very close to a score on the hour mark during another Beverley raid.

In the 72nd minute, a clean break from close to his own line by Josh Poskitt saw him in the clear. He kicked ahead but a chasing defender came across to snuff out the danger.

It was a chance gone begging and in the 74th minute Anthony Chiltern slotted over a crucial drop-goal for the visitors which sealed both league points with the score at 13-6.