HEWORTH ARLC fell to a second defeat in National Conference League 'G' despite a committed display in a 44-20 loss at West Hull.

A premier division side, West Hull dominated possession and territory in the first half but only went in leading 12-10 at the break, with division three outfit Heworth earning plaudits for a strenuous defensive effort.

After taking the lead straight after the interval, Heworth's earlier exertions took their toll and the Humbersiders - superbly led by hooker Nathan Powley - showed their class to take full advantage of a tiring defence to post six tries and run out worthy winners.

The Black and Whites suffered a cruel blow after only six minutes when strong running centre George Elliott broke away down the right flank and looked certain to score but was grounded by a hamstring injury, after which he took no further part.

After some pressure, the hosts opened the scoring on 12 minutes through winger Jack Ridsdill, whose try was converted by scrum-half Danny Nicklas.

Heworth hit back eight minutes later when winger Adam Dent followed up a neat kick from stand-off Danny Allan to cross for an unconverted score.

West Hull, though, enjoyed the majority of possession for the next quarter of an hour and came close to scoring on several occasions but were thwarted by some resolute defending.

Inevitably, the pressure told on 35 minutes when centre Jack Watts touched down and stand-off Paul Stamp added the extras to make it 12-4.

The Villagers got themselves back into the match a minute before the break after a rare incursion into the home 20-metre area led to Allan following up his own grubber kick to score and centre Tyler Craig goaled to reduce the deficit to two points.

Heworth rocked the hosts in the opening minute of the second period by taking the lead for the only time in the contest. On the sixth tackle, Allan hoisted a testing kick which the full-back was unable to gather and second-rower Fergus Chapman plucked the bouncing ball out of the air to go over by the posts. Craig slotted the conversion for a 16-12 lead.

But the advantage was short-lived and just four minutes later, Ridsdill was over for his second touchdown, improved by Stamp to nudge them back in front.

The remainder of the half belonged to the Humberside outfit as the gap in standards became increasingly evident.

West Hull exploited the absence of Elliott's defensive presence on the left edge to post four more tries in a devastating 20-minute period from substitutes Will Gardiner and Elliott Jones, loose forward Ryan Steen and centre Ben Arbon along with three Stamp conversions to put themselves out of sight at 40-16.

To their credit Heworth kept battling away and on 72 minutes Craig broke away direct from acting half down the left touchline 60 metres out. He fed winger Dent, who made good ground before kicking over the full-back and Craig followed up to touch down for an excellent try.

The home side had the final say with Ridsdill completing his hat trick in the closing minute.

Allan's all-round performance earned him Heworth's man-of-the-match award.

York Acorn lost 20-16 at Hull Dockers, also in league 'G'.