SCOTT RHODES has challenged his York Acorn ARLC side - boosted by Tuesday night's training match against York City Knights - to win the chance to take on their professional neighbours for real.

Acorn, who haven't played a competitive fixture since their thrilling National Conference League division one play-off final victory in November, jump straight back into the deep end on Saturday as they host Sharlston Rovers in the first round of the Challenge Cup (1.30pm).

League One clubs like the Knights enter the tournament in round three, and Rhodes says it would be a boon for all concerned if the Blue and Golds could get there - and then pull their neighbours out of the hat.

“It’s almost a pre-season friendly in some ways, which it shouldn’t be when it’s the Cup," said Rhodes, whose team don't kick off their NCL premier division campaign until March.

“But the lads have trained well and went there on Tuesday obviously to show me what they can do. They’re hungry for that first competitive game and hungry to win.

“It would be massive for the club to reach round three – and it would be massive for the city if we got there and then drew York Knights. It would be great for both clubs.

“But there are a lot of good teams between here and there – including Sharlston. We’ll do our best.”

Sharlston - one of Yorkshire's most famous cup giantkillers having shocked Workington way back in 1946 and more recently KO'd Dewsbury Rams in 2003 - provide a sizeable barrier. They might now be down in Pennine League division one but are battle-hardened, having been playing through the winter season, and have a strong pedigree in most cup competitions.

Rhodes said: "The Challenge Cup comes a bit early for us - we’ve only been training since January 7 – but we'll go out there like we did against York and give it a good shot.

“There’s a lot of potential in our team. We’re a very young side still, but, as I’ve said before, we’ve got some good systems – and good players. We’ve got to go and play with confidence and I’m sure if we get it right we will beat them."

The clubs last met in May last year when Sharlston's summer team beat Acorn's reserves in the Yorkshire Men's League's Forty-20 Cup final.

Said Rhodes: “They’ve had mixed reviews since and lost to Upton (in the BARLA National Cup) last week. But if they bring the kind of team that we met in the Forty-20 final it will be very tough for us.

“We'll have to be on the top of our game quickly to win.”

Asked if Tuesday's session was helpful, Rhodes said: “Yes, of course.

“We needed a run-out to blow cobwebs off. We brought 20 lads and gave them all an equal run.

“York didn’t hold back. They looked pretty good. But we did some good stuff as well. I’m very happy with how we went.

“It was pretty structured, and I thought we stuck to the systems we talked about.

"The Knights put a lot into it. We coped in some areas and in some areas we didn’t, especially against their speed and power.

“It’s hard to gauge our fitness levels having had only three or four sessions on grass (due to the weather), and we’ve still got a bit to go before the start of our season.

"But it was great game preparation for us."