Heworth'S title hopes took a battering at Elm Park Way on Saturday as the lost to fellow promotion hopefuls Castleford Panthers 36-16.

It was the Villagers' first home defeat of the National Conference League division two season and, having previously gone the opening eight games without defeat, they have now lost twice on the trot.

However, they still occupy the second and final promotion place in the table as Milford Marlins, who could have gone above them on points difference, also lost, 20-18 to a dramatic injury-time try and conversion away to Eastmoor Dragons.

The first half at Heworth was an evenly-balance affair, with the visitors leading 12-10 at the break thanks to a second-minute try by James Sharp plus a conversion and three penalty goals from Paul Walshaw.

Heworth's points had come from a try by player-coach Brendan Carlyle plus three goals by Carl Potter.

The Panthers increased their lead just three minutes into the second half through a Kieron Hickman touchdown and the hosts collapsed alarmingly in the final quarter to concede a further three tries, scored by Sean Wales, Neil Pyecroft and Paul Steel. Walshaw booted a further four goals for a personal tally of eight from eight attempts.

Heworth full-back Richard Darling notched a consolation try with Potter adding his fourth goal but it provided little cheer for Carlyle and fellow coach Phil Sturdy, and the Villagers' impressive 100 per cent record now seems a long time ago.

York Acorn were unable to build on last week's impressive win over Hillsborough Hawks as they lost a hard-fought encounter at Cottingham Tigers 15-6.

The hosts might be near the bottom but they have one of the best records in the league for points conceded and they showed why against Acorn, who were generally the better side but did not have the guile or flair to breach an excellent defence more than once.

Acorn's defence held firm for much of the time but several players were guilty of vital missed tackles which helped the hosts score two sloppy but decisive tries.

Acorn will rue the opening 20 minutes when they were unable to turn pressure into points in a period in which the Humbersiders could not complete their sets of six mainly due to handling errors.

But by the 20th minute Cottingham started to catch the ball and this meant the game's possession pendulum swung to a more even keel, and on 22 minutes the Tigers scored their first try when 18-year-old hooker Andy Ellis nipped through some weak tackling to score straight from acting half.

Centre Alex Benson kicked the conversion to add to his second-minute penalty as Cottingham moved 8-0 up.

The only time the Acorn attack really functioned properly came on 33 minutes when substitute Gareth Lloyd collected the ball 35 yards out and stormed through two would-be tacklers before leaving Cottingham full-back Ian Robinson flat footed as he raced over for a fine try. Full-back Kevin Brundrett kicked the conversion.

Acorn were back in it but, on the stroke of half time, they were punished for some ill-discipline as Benson booted a 35-yarder.

The game went further away from the Blue and Golds early in the second half when right-winger Paul Barker capitalised on a slow sliding Acorn defence to score an unconverted try in the corner.

Acorn, with man of the match stand-off Danny Liddell attempting to inspire the attack, and with forwards Lee Frank and Dave Norman, along with substitute Michael Embleton, going through lots of work, tried hard to break down the resolute Tigers defence, but to no avail.

The hosts who had the final word when loose-forward Richard Anderson put over a field goal.

Updated: 12:44 Monday, November 11, 2002