YORK Acorn are determined to put behind them the shocking display against Normanton Knights.

Acorn boss Dave Kay was not given the best of Christmas presents as his side were hammered 48-6 by the team now coached by Great Britain and Bradford Bulls prop Paul Anderson.

The hosts ran in nine tries in total, with winger Kevin Bateman, full-back Mike Butterfield, hooker Lee Aspinall and scrum-half Dean Rakes crossing in the first half, and Neil Mears, prop Lee Garside, Lee Riddell, Tony Papworth and loose-forward Ben Cockayne sharing the spoils in the second. Cockayne added six goals.

The Blue and Golds' only reply came in the second half from Dave Norman, whose touchdown was goaled by Kevin Brundrett, and the result saw the York outfit drop to fourth-bottom of the National Conference League division two.

Acorn suffered a couple of late call-offs prior to the match but spokesman Paul Lumby said there was no excuse for the heaviness of the defeat.

"We dropped too many balls and missed too many tackles. Everything we could do wrong we probably did," he said.

"We could make one or two excuses but at the end of the day the referee or the opposition don't drop balls or miss tackles for you.

"But we are looking at it as a blip and we don't want to dwell on it. The young players who we've brought in have done well in the main, so we won't labour the point."

Runaway league leaders Wath Brow Hornets are next up for Acorn on Saturday, and Lumby admitted this defeat was not the best way to prepare for that test.

"It's not ideal preparation for the Wath Brow game and the lads feel bad about it," he said. "But hopefully we've got rid of the mistakes in one game.

"The lads are determined that the only way to get rid of a bad performance is by turning in a committed display next time."

Normanton are much-improved under Anderson, with this victory being their fourth on the bounce.

"They were much better than when we last played them," said Lumby. "But it was still a below-par performance from us and one I don't expect us to repeat in the rest of the season. It was our worst display since we began to turn things around eight weeks ago."

Coach Kay will bring his players in for an extra training session tomorrow at 2pm to try to put things right before Saturday, the festive period having already put paid to the usual Tuesday night sessions this week and last.

Updated: 11:10 Monday, December 30, 2002