RESOLUTE first-half defence and better ball control after the break saw York Acorn ARLC's 'A' team beat Beverley to lift the Yorkshire Men's League's Forty20 Cup for a second time.

Acorn 'A', finalists of this competition in each of the four seasons it has been held, took the trophy with a 20-8 victory over the side coached by Hull FC prop Scott Taylor.

This match was played at Heworth's Elmpark Way ground and Acorn now go up the road to New Earswick All Blacks tomorrow night for the York & District Cup final looking for a second piece of silverware with which to send off coach Leigh Paul-Rientoul, who has recently taken charge of the first team.

The first half at Elmpark Way was dominated by the Acorn defence in which second-rower Reece Rushworth, scrum-half Tim Elliott and props James Bromwich and first-teamer Joe Porter made telling contributions.

However, they had to rely on their defence as their attack just did not function - mainly because their completion rate was well below par and the penalty count was rising against them.

The only surprise was that, for all their possession and pressure, Beverley rarely looked like breaking through.

Instead, Acorn notched the only score of the half when on 18 minutes Rushworth threw out a speculative 25-yard pass to left-winger Dan Lazenby, who turned on the turbo to race 50 yards to the corner.

Rientoul gave the team a stern gee-up at half-time and this had the desired effect when, within two minutes of the restart, it became 8-0 thanks to an arcing 30-yard run to the line from full-back Joe Budd from the base of a scrum.

Sloppy marking from the restart was compounded by a rare moment of defensive frailty as Beverley hit back.

But Acorn regrouped and, on 52 minutes, they made it 14-4 when veteran loose-forward Mike Embleton spun out of a tackle to touch down under the posts.

The next score sealed the cup - and brought thunderous applause.

It came on the hour, when the impressive Porter took the ball 40 yards out from the Beverley line and proceeded to swat away would-be tacklers on his way to the try line.

Half-back Antony Chilton, another first-teamer, added his second conversion to cap a man-of-the-match performance, his tactical kicking, including a couple of 40-20s, having pegged Beverley back time and again.

Acorn dropped intensity levels after this, allowing Beverley to go close on a couple of occasions before finally getting some reward for their endeavours with a 78th-minute try in the corner.

But the trophy belonged to Acorn, for whom teenage substitutes Brandon Harris and George Mosley also impressed in the forward exchanges when coming off the bench.