BASEMENT boys York Acorn ARLC played with spirit and endeavour but ultimately lost 32-8 to leaders Siddal in the National Conference League premier division.

Siddal looked the part and had quality across the park, winger Gareth Blackburn making the difference on the scoreboard with a 24-point haul.

He opened the scoring after five minutes, a smart grubber into the corner giving him his first try and touchline conversions.

Three minutes later, Acorn gave Siddal more use of the ball courtesy of a penalty and, on the fifth tackle, hooker Craig Sanderson's short, quick blindside pass gave Blackburn his second touchdown.

On 11 minutes, he almost had a third, only for the referee to rule the final pass forward.

For the next 30 minutes, Acorn held out sustained Siddal advances, wave after wave being turned away.

Acorn's resolve was something to admire and it was they who nearly came up with the next score as, on a rare foray into the red zone, Matthew Woods lost the ball in the act of touching down.

Trailing 10-0 at half-time, the hosts forced a knock-on from the restart, which was followed by an enthusiastic attack.

Joe Budd shaped to pass out wide and then slipped into the gap to score himself.

On 48 minutes, however, Siddal's forwards applied intense pressure to set up an attacking position for prop George Ambler to crash over, Blackburn converting.

In the visitors' next attack, Blackburn claimed his hat-trick, and three minutes later he bagged his fourth try, backing up Sanderson's break from dummy half straight down the middle.

Two successive breaks by Acorn centre Jordan Myers excited the home crowd but Siddal's cover defence was there to thwart the danger.

The visitors' final score came courtesy of a dubious refereeing decision, which gave Siddal possession from what looked like a knock-on.

They stretched Acorn's defence, allowing stand-off Gareth Garrod the opportunity to step in and out of would-be tackles to score.

The fact Acorn never gave up was shown by the two goal-line dropouts they forced late in the game, and their endeavour and spirit was rewarded when Ryan Gallacher was first to react to a crossfield kick to claim the final points of the game.

Man of the Match for Acorn was Joe Porter, though special mention also goes to both full backs – Joe Budd for Acorn and Freddie Walker for Siddal - both of whom were influential.

In Yorkshire Men's League division one, Heworth's scheduled home fixture with West Hull Lions 'A' was postponed as the visitors were unable to raise a side.

In division two, York Lokomotive lost 38-8 at Ossett Trinity and sit second bottom of the table.