YORK Acorn found in-form table-topping Milford a tough nut to crack as they lost their latest NCL division two home clash 22-6.

Acorn certainly tried hard and couldn't be faulted for their work rate, especially in defence, but at the end of the day they were unable to seriously threaten a well-organised Milford defence and were beaten on the day by a better team.

Acorn's cause certainly wasn't helped by the sending off of stand-off Jon Waldron, which saw the home side play the final ten minutes with only 12 players.

Once again Acorn were punished for their start and they found themselves ten points down after only 12 minutes.

To their credit, Acorn never buckled and for the rest of the first half they gave a good account of themselves and they finally got on the scoreboard just after the interval with a Kevin Brundrett penalty.

Acorn's joy was short lived when Milford increased their lead to 18-2 with two tries.

But, Acorn's plight was made even more difficult on 70 minutes when their Waldron was sent off by the referee for supposedly throwing a punch in the tackle.

Playing a man down, Acorn were opened up once more when Milford took advantage of the expected overlap to score out wide to open up a 22-2 lead.

Acorn finally got some reward for plenty of endeavour when full-back Brundrett pounced upon a neat kick through to score an unconverted try that finished the games scoring.

Updated: 09:45 Monday, February 17, 2003