BELOW-PAR York Acorn ARLC went down 34-28 at Normanton Knights in National Conference League division one.

The Blue and Golds were not at their best, with unforced errors proving costly, but they almost did enough to snatch an unlikely draw late in the game.

The visitors lost the ball in the first tackle of the match, giving Normanton the field position to barge over for the opening try - which was goaled - on two minutes.

Acorn responded on 11 minutes with an unconverted try in the corner from winger Joel Johnson.

Five minutes later, Normanton added an unconverted try to move 10-4 in front.

The visitors produced a moment of class on 24 minutes when Tom Hill raced through on an angle off a planned move to touch down and Joe Budd converted to level the scores.

A try from the hosts on the stroke of half-time was a real blow for the Blue and Golds, who had marginally the better of the opening period but still trailed 16-10.

Five minutes in the second half, Acorn man of the match Lewis Lord crossed the line and Budd converted to level the game at 16-16.

On 49 minutes, the young hooker went over again and Budd’s goal gave Acorn the lead for the first time at 22-16.

Just as they were looking to pull away, Acorn were pushed back and Normanton grabbed three tries in a row, with one converted, to lead 30-22 with ten minutes remaining.

Acorn briefly raised hopes of a comeback when Lord nipped in for his hat-trick try on 73 minutes, with Budd’s conversion reducing the deficit to two points.

There was then a controversial moment on 78 minutes when Acorn were in possession near the Normanton posts and the ball appeared to be ripped out.

However, the referee ruled it had been lost by an Acorn player and Normanton moved upfield and grabbed an unconverted score to put the game out of reach.