YORK Acorn produced their worst first-half showing of the season before going down 40-16 at the hands of previous play-off rivals Milford.

This defeat not only realistically ends their faint hopes of a Kingstone Press National Conference League division one play-off spot, but isn't ideal preparation for Wednesday night's local cup final against Heworth at New Earswick.

On this form, Acorn know that they will need to lift their performance level dramatically, otherwise an in-form Heworth will be confident of upsetting the formbook.

Both Acorn and Milford took to the field with key players missing, but it was the visitors who handled those losses better and, with their pugnacious scrum half Josh Parle blessing the park and centre Dave Watmough, along with prop forward Dwaine McCrea, willing and powerful runners, Acorn were put to the sword in the opening quarter.

Milford took an early 2-0 lead by virtue of a sixth-minute penalty goal from Watmough, and two minutes later their tall, powerful Ukrainian winger Mykmairo Troian left several defenders grasping thin air on his way to the try line after a 50-metre run.

Milford doubled their lead to 12-0 on 15 minutes following a try by Ukrainian second-rower Yevheni Trusov, who carved open the shoddy Acorn defence to reach the whitewash, with Watmough adding the goal.

Acorn's performance was littered with handling errors and missed tackles, and their inability to get off the floor quickly enough to stem the visitors' vigorous and enthusiastic start hurt them in those painful first 40 minutes.

Milford moved further in front on 18 minutes with a try from McCrea, goaled by Watmough, to give the Leeds- based outfit a point-a-minute lead.

Things got worse on the quarter-time mark, when they improved that ratio with a try and a goal from Watmough which made it 24-0.

Despite only having a first-half completion rate of around 25 per cent, Acorn's defence somehow managed to stem the scoreboard for the remainder of the half until the 38th minute, when Ukrainian substitute Okeksanda Kozar plunged over from close range for an unconverted try to send the visitors in at 28-0.

Acorn rallied in the second half to give the scoreboard a healthier look, but Milford still struck first on 56 minutes with a try by their loose forward James Barker to which Watmough added the conversion.

Next to score was their inspirational half-back Parle, who managed to use his strength and body position to good effect when stretching over for an unconverted 64th-minute score that had his team-mates looking at a 38-0 scoreline.

Acorn's attack finally came to the party on 67 minutes when their best performer by a margin, full back Joe Budd, clipped over a tidy defence-evading kick and winger Callum Worthington was on hand to score a try that Budd goaled.

Minutes later, Budd opened the Milford defence wide open before touching down behind the posts for a try that he himself converted to get Acorn into double figures at 28-12.

On 74 minutes, Acorn were at it again when leggy prop forward Josh Thompson broke free and raced in from 40 metres for an unconverted score.

But Milford had the last say when they hit the 40-point mark with a last-minute penalty from Watmough.