ANTONY Chilton’s towering penalty goal from the halfway line clinched a tense 16-14 win for York Acorn at National Conference League first division hosts Oulton Raiders.

Having earlier converted tries from Matthew Woods and brother Matthew Chilton as well as landing another successful penalty, Acorn’s master kicker settled matters on 73 minutes when the scores were deadlocked.

The home side had earlier torn into Acorn from the off and breached the Thanet Road side’s stout defensive line following five back-to-back repeat sets before grabbing an unconverted try.

Outstanding on-line defence, led by the work-rate of second-rowers Woods and Reece Rushworth, along with that of man-of-the-match James Mountford at hooker and centres Jordan Potter and Ryan Gallacher, then helped take the spirit out of the Oulton forwards play.

Consequently, on 22 minutes, impressive link play along the line, involving scrum-half Lewis Brown and Antony Chilton, created the opening for second-rower Woods to exploit, as he raced untouched on his way to the try line on 22 minutes.

Two moments of quality went on to put Acorn in the ascendancy.

Firstly, a crunching tackle by Potter in the middle of the park saw the away team get the ball back.

Then, on 35 minutes, not for the first time this season and probably not the last, the Chilton siblings combined perfectly for Antony to send Matthew over for a try that was goaled by the former, who added another penalty to make it 14-4 at the interval.

The second half started like the first with Oulton breaching Acorn’s defensive line on 45 minutes and scoring as the result of powerful forwards’ play followed by quick footwork.

After a successful conversion reduced the deficit to 14-10, errors and penalties crept into Acorns play and allowed Oulton to gain momentum in attack but resolute defence and several clearing-up runs by full back Matthew Chilton thwarted their attempts.

Acorn’s defence was eventually undone in the most bizarre of fashions,when a referee-aided mix-up at the play-the-ball for the visitors, enabled Oulton to steal the ball and claim an unconverted 66th-minute from out wide.

With Raiders on top, it looked odds-on as if Acorn were going to be overtaken on the scoreboard but, to their credit, the York side dug deep and were rewarded with Chilton’s crucial kick.

The final seven minutes then seemed to take an age to finish and more heroic defending was required - particularly a man-and-ball hit by Anthony Chilton which saw Oulton lose possession at the back of an attacking scrum in the Acorn 20, when the danger signs of a late home winner were there for all to see.

In the Yorkshire Men’s League’s premier division, struggling New Earswick All Blacks went down 34-14 at fourth-placed Nottingham Outlaws.