HEWORTH ARLFC boss Scott Rhodes is looking to keep improving game on game as his side aim to continue their strong start to the season at home to Allerton Bywater on Saturday.

The Villagers are one of two teams in Yorkshire Men’s League division one to have won both of their opening fixtures.

Last weekend’s 22-20 win at Cutsyke Raiders demonstrated the team’s determination to get good results, while the manner and the circumstances of the turnaround pleased Rhodes.

It was the epitome of a tale of two halves as the Black and Whites trailed 14-0 at the break but stormed back in the second period, with Joe Deighton, George Elliott, Josh Poulter and Fraser West all touching down.

But Rhodes accepts performances in such a style are part and parcel of fielding an inexperienced side, however promising they may be, and prefers to focus on their form getting better than bemoaning their mistakes.

He said: “We’re happy that there’s improvement with what we’re doing on the training field, because as a coach that’s all I can do – look and try and improve every player.

“We want to take every game as it comes and try and improve on the last one.

“Cutsyke Raiders are probably one of the best teams in division one – we dug in there and really showed a lot character.

“In the first half, we were just making silly errors. You have to remember that we’re a really young side so you’re going to get a little bit of inconsistency.

“We’ve got a lot to improve on and we’ll just keep improving one game at a time, starting at Allerton.

“It was a really good win with three or four key players out injured – that probably made it more special because as coaching staff it shows what you put on the training field is moving the team in the right direction.

“It was kind of a fair result at half-time. We lost the ruck area really badly and I didn’t rate our attack. I thought we really struggled.

“Then Liam Jackson played the second half and gave us more direction. We were error-free in the ruck. We improved a lot, started to play the ball and came out on top.”

Heworth have a few injury concerns following the Cutsyke game, with seven players having missed training on Tuesday night carrying knocks.

York Acorn ‘A’ will be looking to pick up their first league win this year as they travel to Hunslet Club Parkside after losing 33-16 at Oulton Raiders a fortnight ago.

Hunslet suffered 25-22 defeat at Queensbury last week.

Premier division side New Earswick All Blacks and York Lokomotive of the third division meet in the North Yorkshire Invitation Cup final on Saturday.

York Acorn’s first team host Shaw Cross Sharks up in the National Conference League on Saturday.

Acorn lost their first of the season last week, going down 30-18 at Pilkington Recs last week while Sharks were thumped 44-0 by Thornhill Trojans.