YORK Acorn now know how York City Knights and St Helens felt when being 'dropped in it' after losing a dramatic fixture 25-24 at Featherstone Lions in the last league game of their Kingstone Press National Conference League First Division campaign.

The narrow loss meant that Acorn finished the season in fifth, thereby missing out on a home draw in the play-offs and instead having a tough trip to a strangely out-of-form Milford side in three weeks' time.

The reason why the final table has a different look to it then most people anticipated is because bottom-of-the-table Blackbrook failed to fulfil their fixture at Hunslet Warriors on Saturday, following their non-appearance at Hunslet Club Parkside recently.

The league, in accordance with their rules, have expunged Blackbrook's results for the season.

This means that most teams will lose four points, but Normanton Knights only lost one and have therefore ended up third on points difference, with Milford in fourth.

If Acorn are successful at the back end of the month, they could once again face Normanton – a repeat of the York club's play-off final win two years ago.

The hosts, however, on the back of this narrow win and Hull Dockers' heavy loss to Normanton have avoided the relegation trapdoor on points difference, with the Humbersiders going down.

Due to Blackbrook's demise, the Lions have finished seventh, four points clear of Dockers, who, along with Hunslet Warriors, have been relegated.

Prior to news of Blackbrook's non fulfilment of their fixture, this match was thought to have so much resting on it.

The extra incentive that Featherstone had for winning this game was probably the main difference between the sides at times, but Acorn couldn't be faulted for their workrate.

Only their application of skills at times that let them down at crucial moments of an absorbing clash.

As against Normanton two games ago, Acorn found it hard to get out of their own 20 as Featherstone adopted the same tactic of either finding touch deep in the opposition half or turning over possession close to the try line, and then regularly putting extra bodies in the tackle to slow Acorn down.

This meant Acorn often had to kick from deep and this allowed their hosts to start their own sets off from a more advanced position.

The visitors will need to improve their exit strategies if they are to make any kind of impact in the play-offs.

As to the game itself, Featherstone struck first after seven minutes when centre David Graham crossed over wide on the right for an unconverted try.

Acorn hit back after 13 minutes when scrum half Lewis Brown executed a stunning back-hand pass close to the opposition's try line and second-rower Matthew Woods was on hand to crash over for a try to which centre Ryan Gallacher added the extras.

Featherstone punished Acorn for too many missed tackles in the build up to their 20th-minute try when they eventually caught the visitors napping and scored in the left-hand corner through Connor Grice, inspirational full back Ian Jackson adding an excellent touchline conversion to give the hosts a 10-6 lead.

Featherstone took the game by the scruff of the neck in the second half, opening a crucial 12-point lead.

First they punished Acorn's on-line defence when they allowed substitute forward Danny Glassell to crash over, despite the attentions of several would-be tacklers. Jackson added the conversion to the 50th minute score.

Jackson added a penalty goal two minutes later to stretch the lead to 18-6.

Acorn stopped the rot when their top performer, full back Mark Sanderson, stayed strong in the tackle to offload to prolific try-scorer Gallacher, who crossed for a 60th minute try. Substitute stand-off Matthew Chilton added the conversion.

Acorn drew level after 67 minutes when acting half Lewis Lord created space before sending prop forward Elliott Bulmer in for a try which Chilton converted.

Unfortunately, Acorn, having done all the hard work to draw level, were once again guilty of soft on-line defending, allowing Glassell to squeeze the ball down for a 70th-minute try, despite good defensive numbers. Jackson's conversion made it 24-18.

The same player then produced the killer blow after 76 minutes when he put over a brilliant 40-metre drop goal that gave his side a crucial seven-point lead.

The home side's fans were still celebrating when Acorn set up a tense finale. Substitute Brandon Harris crossed for Chilton to convert after 78 minutes, cutting the Lions' deficit to one point.

Acorn still had time to pull the game out of the fire but couldn't quite create the opening.

Sanderson apart, Acorn were well served by the tackling of Reece Rushworth, Tim Stubbs and Tim Elliott, while in attack the work rate of Bulmer, Woods and substitute Harris was to be admired.

But this was a below-par performance by a side who seem to have lost their edge since losing to Normanton.

Nevertheless, they are still capable of putting together two winning performances come the play-offs.