Kingstone Press National Conference League First Division: Thornhill Trojans 20 York Acorn 8

YORK Acorn are still looking for their first away win of the season after being beaten 20-8 by high-flying Thornhill in the Kingstone Press National Conference League First Division.

The Dewsbury-based hosts were worthy winners and the scoreline slightly flattered Acorn to some degree because if Thornhill had been more clinical with ball in hand, Acorn could easily have been overwhelmed by half-time.

The difference between the sides in that first half was that the hosts regularly got to the end of their sets in good solid field position, while Acorn's completion rate was well below what was needed.

A 50 per cent completion rate isn't going to earn you a win, and far too much defending will only create gaps in an overworked defence, which Thornhill were only too eager to exploit.

In the first half, Acorn lost the floor and Thornhill's no-nonsense straight running and quick play-the-balls had Acorn's defence regularly on the back foot.

Acorn found themselves 4-0 behind as early as the fourth minute when loose forward Jake Ratcliffe delivered a brilliant ball out of the tackle close to the Acorn try line and in-form winger Joss Ratcliffe took the pass to score an unconverted try out wide.

On 17 minutes, Thornhill moved into a 10-0 lead when their stand-off Liam Morley stood up in the tackle before releasing supporting hooker Luke Haigh, who raced over from close range, with full back Joel Gibson adding the extras.

Almost immediately, Acorn hit back with an unconverted try, scored by linking full back Matthew Chilton off a productive three-quarter play that has yielded several tries already this season, cut the deficit to 10-4.

The game-breaker came with the half-time hooter in sight and was the result of sloppy defending on the Acorn left edge, which allowed full back Gibson to cross for a try that he converted himself to give the hosts a 16-4 interval lead.

The second half was much more even, and Acorn were at least controlling the ball better and getting to the end of their sets.

The only problem was that they were now guilty of giving too many penalties away, so several periods of pressure were released by petulance.

Most of Acorn's best defensive moments came from loose forward Tim Elliott, hooker James Mountford and Jack Byrne, while prop forwards, man of the match Tom Hill and Nathan Welsh, were the pick of the visitors who were trying to take the game to their hosts.

Thornhill did manage to stretch their lead on the 50-minute mark when an Acorn attacking set came to a poor conclusion as a result of a misguided tactical kick in their hosts' 20.

Thornhill got their hands on the ball and went on a devastating attack, keeping the ball alive from one end of the pitch to the other before impressive centre James Craven off-loaded in the tackle and their man of the match, Danny Ratcliffe, cut a swathe through the Acorn defence to score an unconverted try and make it 20-4.

Acorn did manage to get themselves back in the game three minutes later when centre Jordan Potter put winger Ryan Gallacher over for an unconverted try in the corner to make it 20-8 with plenty of time to play.

Unfortunately, despite the strong running of Hill, Welsh and Luke Swales, Acorn couldn't manage any further breakthroughs.