YORK Acorn ARLC warmed up for next weekend's Ladbrokes Challenge Cup first round tie against Cumbrian outfit Askam with a solid 34-0 home friendly win over Skirlaugh.

Acorn fielded several new faces and as expected they needed time to gel as a unit, while the lively visitors initially took the game to them.

However, Blue and Golds spokesman Paul Lumby said his side could be pleased with their display and added: "It will have gone a long way to shaking off the rustiness in time for next week's cup clash."

Despite the Humbersiders' bright opening, Acorn scored first on 10 minutes, when quick hands in the threequarters involving scrum-half Tim Elliott and full-back Ryan Gallacher ended with the latter putting centre Matty Downes in for an unconverted try out wide.

Acorn seemed to enjoy that area of the pitch and on 18 minutes they went 10-0 up, when more quick hands saw second-row Matthew Woods put winger Brandon Harris in at the corner, stand-off Anthony Chilton superbly converting from the touchline.

For the next 20 minutes Acorn found it hard to comfortably get out of their own 20 and any go-forward had to come on the back of hard yards made by the likes of impressive debutant prop Ryan Price, the York-based former Keighley Cougars squadman, and powerhouse centre Downes.

The cultured tactical kicking game of man-of-the-match Chilton - which often saw Acorn move 50 metres upfield – also helped.

On the stroke of half-time, Acorn moved 16-0 ahead, when Chilton put in a grubber kick which resulted in a fumble and allowed substitute forward Jack Byrnes to ground the ball, Chilton adding the extras.

Acorn started the second half brightly and within 10 minutes had moved into 28-0 up, on the back of two stunning team tries.

The first came on 44 minutes, after a quality offload by Australian prop Nathan Welsh – a Catterick-based soldier who was also enjoying a super debut - was carried on from half-way by sub full-back Joe Budd. He in turn fed sub forward Harry Bromwich and eventually the ball found its way to centre Jordan Potter, who crossed.

Then, from almost the same starting position near half-way, Acorn ripped open their opponents’ defensive line on the back of more quality passing involving Chilton and Budd which resulted in scrum-half Elliott barrelling his way through. Chilton added both conversions.

The final score came on 63 minutes, when a deft Chilton kick into space behind the Skirlaugh defence was picked up superbly on the fly by Budd, who then popped the pass out to flying winger Callum Worthington. The recruit from neighbours Heworth sped 30 metres home to mark his debut with a try. Chilton again added the extras.

Others to give impressive performances were Potter, acting-half James Mountford and Woods.

Skirlaugh gained some revenge in the ‘A’ team contest. The Blue and Golds were missing several key players and gave a disjointed display. It was still spirited, though, with the side well served by debutants Raffen Cherrington and Mike Wells along with prop Darryl North and man-of-the-match stand-off Joe Burns.