Heworth's hopes of an easy ride against Rochdale Mayfield never materialised as they were made to fight all the way by the National Conference first division basement club at Elm Park Way.

Played on Friday night, the Villagers eventually triumphed 26-16 but the Lancashire side came close to pulling off a shock, especially when they took a surprise lead early on.

Lee Durant was the scorer with a try after two minutes, converted by Paul Lord, but Heworth soon hit back when Chris Hammerton dropped on a loose ball to score and Jason gatus added the extras.

There were more surprises for Heworth when Mayfield went in front again, despite being down to 12 men after the sin-binning of Dave Hamer.

This time centre Bob Reeves got the touchdown with Lord again on the target with the conversion.

Heworth's Mark Green and Rochdale's Dean Hartley then spent time in the bin before Craig Forsyth put Steve Barnard in for a try and Gatus' conversion put Heworth back on level terms.

As they began to assert their authority, the Villagers took the lead for the first time when Hammerton and Barnard combined to send Brendan Carlyle in for a try which Gatus goaled.

That gave Heworth an 18-12 interval lead and 10 minutes into the second half they took control when Sam Clarke touched down after following up his own kick.

Dave Woodhouse crashed in at the corner to extend their lead and though Craig Diggle pulled one back for the visitors it wasn't enough to threaten Heworth's victory.

The result made it four wins from four home games for Heworth but they are still seeking their first victory on away turf.

New Earswick All Blacks were made to pay for a slow start at home to Keighley Albion as they trailed 18-0 after 20 minutes.

Though they improved as the game went on, it was too late for the All Blacks and they were eventually beaten 30-16 to leave them in the lower reaches of the second division.

Early tries by John Gwilliam, Rob Bailey and Craig Morphet were all converted by hooker Dean Brookes, who produced an impeccable kicking display, to give Albion a commanding lead.

Dave Carling finally got the All Blacks off the mark with a penalty after 28 minutes but there was more misery to come when full-back Chris Hogg crossed for Albion's fourth try.

A John Leach try, converted by Carling, gave New Earswick a glimmer of hope before half-time but at 24-8 down, they were counting on a major transformation to salvage anything from the match.

Unfortuately that transformation never came, though they at least had the consolation of a much better display and actually edged the second half.

After Simon Marsden's converted try had extended Albion's lead five minutes into the half, Gary Isles and the impressive Lee Nelson replied for the All Blacks before the final whistle.

Second rower Trevor Sadler was the pick of an All Blacks side which badly missed the services of unavailable trio Alex Davis, Jamie Rhodes and Richard Harrison, Jamie Daniels who is still injured and the suspended Lee McTigue.

They were hit by a further blow when play-maker Mick Harrison was forced off the field early on with a hamstring problem.

York Acorn had the opposite problem at West Bowling as they started well but faded in the second half.

They threw away leads of 8-2 and 13-8 to lose 44-12, their sixth successive defeat in the second division.

Acorn opened the scoring with a 10th minute penalty by Paul Smith and then, following a West Bowling equaliser, they crossed for the game's first try.

An up and under from Paul Smith was latched onto by Kenny Embleton who crossed for a try converted by Smith.

Bowling hit back with a try by Paul Cornforth - his first of a hat-trick - which was converted by Peter Simpson to tie the scores. Smith's drop goal edged Acorn in front and their lead was extended when Rian Calam fed winger Richard Tinker to score in the corner.

But after that Acorn lost their way and allowed their Bradford hosts to take control, scoring five further tries without reply.

Acorn's cause wasn't helped when Michael Embleton suffered a badly gashed cheek after being caught by a boot, then an accidental clash of heads left Kenny Embleton and Rian Calam with facial injuries. Forward Dave Murray also suffered concussion.

Man of the match for Acorn was Lee Frank.

On Friday night, Yorkshire Under-17s became the first team so far to defeat New South Wales Rugby League Academy in a superb match at Huntington Stadium.

A report and pictures will appear in tomorrow's Evening Press.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.