YORK Acorn winger Johnny Waldron has smashed the National Conference League's try-scoring record, it has been confirmed.

The young flyer scored a staggering six in Saturday's 60-16 smashing of Crosfields in Acorn's final game of the division two promotion campaign, and this took his tally to the season to 41 in the league - one more than the club had thought.

The former BARLA Great Britain Under-21s international had already equalled the league record of 35 going into the match, that mark having been set by Leigh East's Darren Hall in 2000-01, and he also scored three more in cup games to take his season's tally to 44.

Acorn boss Dave Kay - who, as the Evening Press reported last week, is set to stand down as coach after Saturday's fundraising friendly against the Royal Navy (ko 2pm) - said: "He's done really well.

"It's been coming all season. We weren't sure what the record was but getting six more on Saturday made us pretty confident he had done it. He's had the potential to do it and has been pretty consistent all season.

"It's a great reward for his efforts, he's been a big part of getting us to where we've got, but he'll be the first to admit that, while some of his tries have been individual efforts, a lot are down to his team-mates and it is the team effort that has got us there."

Acorn, freshly promoted to division one after finishing third in division two, will take on the Royal Navy and Royal Marines Senior RL team at Thanet Road on Saturday, kick off 2pm.

The visiting side, made up of serving personnel from Navy and Marines postings across the UK, has just been awarded the Royal Navy Sports Association of the Year award.

Six Yorkshiremen will be in their squad, including brothers Petty Officer Weapons Electrical Artificer Tom McKenna and Weapons Electrical Artificer Kev Botwood.

The event is a fundraiser for Acorn while a return fixture has already been scheduled for Acorn's pre-season.

Updated: 11:23 Thursday, May 12, 2005