EXPERIENCED half-backs Chris Hammerton and man of the match Brendan Carlyle starred as Heworth recorded only their fourth win of the season with a 30-16 success at Widnes St Marie's.

Neighbours York Acorn meanwhile fought back from 18-0 down to end their home campaign on a high by beating fourth-placed Ince Rosebridge 34-32 in a true thriller, thus completing a rare double for York's Arriva Trains Conference division two sides.

Heworth saw Widnes crash to their 11th consecutive defeat, their season having fallen away dramatically, and spokesman Ken Sykes said: "We played some good rugby and deserved to win. After a lot of defeats it's nice to win, it's some encouragement for the lads."

Both teams scored three unconver-ted tries to go in 12-12 at the break, before Heworth, with forwards Luke Judson and Will Neary impressing, took control.

The first half-hour involved a mini-battle between opposing wingers as Martin McNeill twice gave Widnes the lead with Gavin Grant twice levelling, firstly from a neat grubber by Wayne Foster and then after a 50-metre break by Carlyle.

Widnes again went ahead, through their other winger, Paul Argent, but on half-time Heworth again hit back as in-form Hammerton's mazy run ended with Jon Jewitt outpacing the defence.

Neat footwork saw Hammerton himself cross soon after the restart, Wayne Foster goaling from in front, and, after the scrum-half added a penalty for dissent, good handling resulted in a Judson try.

Another Hammerton penalty for offside was followed by a home try through hooker Lee Campbell but Heworth had the last word when John Coulson crossed after Carlyle cleverly used the blind side.

At Thanet Road, Acorn gave their best display of the season to come back from an awful start in which Rosebridge scored three tries, through centre Dean Kenny (2) and Carl Roden, with full-back Lee Jukes converting them all.

Acorn dug in and stand-off Jon Waldron got them back into it with a 50-metre solo try goaled from the touchline by Kev Brundrett, and they hit the heights either side of half-time as hooker Fran Starkey shot in before the interval and Waldron crossed again two minutes after following a Nick Caldwell break, with Brundrett's two conversions levelling matters.

Rosebridge retook the lead through Roden but Acorn powered back as Brundrett goaled a try by scrum-half Andy Gargan to go in front for the first time.

Rosebridge looked to win the game as tries by Chris Boylan and Lee Jones put them eight points clear, but with seven minutes left substitute forward Paul Payne crashed over, Brundrett goaling, and two minutes from time Waldron put a flying Adam Endersby in for the winner.

Updated: 10:42 Monday, March 29, 2004