YORK ACORN'S hopes of moving into a top three spot in National Conference League division one were dealt a blow in a 34-24 loss at Hunslet Warriors.

In a fiercely competitive division, where away wins are at a premium, the Blue and Golds will look back on a game they could have won but for several errors at key moments.

The hosts started the brighter and punished Acorn's defence out wide on 11 minutes with a converted score. By the 18th minute, Acorn were looking at a 12 point deficit courtesy of a second converted score for the now rampant Warriors.

Gradually Acorn started to get to grips with their strong-running opponents and they gave themselves hope when, on 35 minutes, loose forward Josh Mortimer powered over to cut the deficit to 12-4.

Having just got themselves back into the game, though, they fell to a sucker punch on the stroke of half-time as Hunslet picked up their third converted score of the half.

Acorn made it more of a contest straight after the break thanks to the work of their forwards. A revitalised Joe Porter ran strongly, well supported by Tim Stubbs and Adam Endersby, which allowed hooker Lewis Lord to cause chaos.

They were rewarded on 55 minutes when scrum-half Andy Gargan scored under the posts and Joe Budd converted. Warriors' lead was just 18-16 three minutes later when full-back Budd converted his own try.

Once again, though, Acorn contrived to let their hosts off the hook. Hunslet once again took control of the game with a double try burst as they re-established a comfortable 28-16 lead.

Acorn stopped the rot when Lord threw several dummies before slicing through for a fine individual unconverted try that cut the gap to 28-20. Another unforced error, six minutes from the end of the game, gifted Hunslet a converted score.

To their credit, Acorn did not give up and, with very little time remaining, they notched the last score of the game when Stubbs crashed over for an unconverted try.