INJURY-HIT York Acorn ARLC face arguably one of their toughest tasks of the National Conference League division one season on Saturday - but are hoping home fires will burn.

The Blue and Golds entertain Hunslet Club Parkside at Thanet Road (2.30pm) looking to bounce back to winning ways after their narrow 10-6 defeat at Underbank Rangers.

But they will be taking on a team on the up, who have won both matches so far this term and even turned over professional neighbours Hunslet in a pre-season friendly.

Acorn boss Leigh Paul-Rientoul, already short on fit wingers, will be without half-back Timmy Elliot (shin) and key packman Davey Burns (ribs) and is aware of the task at hand, but he has challenged his charges to rise to the test.

“I don’t think they will get beat much this year,” he said of the weekend’s visitors. “They’ve come up through the divisions after joining the National Conference and are predicted by a lot of people to top the table.

“We’ve also got a couple of injuries from last week and so we’ll have to shift things round a bit. We already had to go with two lads on the wing who aren’t natural wingers.

“But we’re at home and we said one of the main goals is not to get beat at home.

“I could not have asked for more effort last week. It was always going to be a forwards’ game on Underbank’s pitch and we matched them, only discipline let us down - their two penalties being the difference. They know when to kick penalties and how to play up and down that hill.”

Regarding the wing spots, Paul-Rientoul was hoping strapping wideman Josh Thompson would be available, having heard nothing about a disciplinary hearing following his red card on the opening weekend of the season. Thompson missed last week with a knee injury.