York's three big guns in the Yorkshire League - the second strings of Acorn, Heworth and New Earswick All Blacks - mirrored the efforts of their first teams as all slumped to defeats.

Heworth and All Blacks both took heavy beatings while Acorn suffered a narrow 28-24 defeat at home to Shaw Cross 'A' in division four.

The Blue and Golds' chances were hampered by the first half dismissal of player-coach Kevin Warters for verbal abuse against the referee. Yet they still gave a good showing and came close to pulling off a memorable win.

Key performers were prop Darren Rhodes, second rower Darren Drake who grabbed two tries and sub Shaun Gilmour. Their other points came from tries by Kenny Hilton, Paul Yoward and Mark Crake who also kicked two goals.

Heworth had just 13 players for the division three visit of Eastmoor 'A' and though they started brightly, they were beaten 32-5.

They went into a 5-0 lead courtesy of two penalties from full-back Jimmy Rothwell which sandwiched a field goal by loose forward Mal Binns.

Eastmoor replied with just an unconverted try before half-time but in the second half Heworth fell apart as Eastmoor ran in five tries.

Best performers for Heworth were Rothwell, half-backs Chris and Graham Brown, hooker Steve Allison and second rower Adam Briggs.

Second half injuries to loose forward Andy Castle and stand-off Andy Watson proved costly for New Earswick 'A' in their 28-10 division four defeat at home to West Leeds.

At that stage they were only trailing 14-10 thanks to tries from man of the match Dean Kilbride and Wayne Garwood, plus a conversion from Chris Thompson. But West Leeds made the most of their advantage to finish comfortable winners, though the score flattered them.

Rich Thwaite, Chris Thompson and Phil Turpin impressed, as did Paul Fairclough and Neil Gulliver.

In-form Selby Warriors are leading division two after a 34-12 win at Prince of Wales.

Inconsistent Heworth Under-14s lost 32-16 to visitors Batley Boys. Poor defensive work proved their downfall and spoilt the good work in attack.

David Gibson ran himself to a standstill and deserved his try, while their others came from Danny Elliott and Liam Stagnell. Jon Elsegood and Andy Parkinson added the goals.

Adam Snowball produced some storming runs to score five tries in Heworth Under-13s' 56-6 demolition of Middleton.

They played some entertaining rugby with top tackler Danny Allan getting a hat-trick and Tom Holden, Paul Thompson, Sam Ackroyd and Sean Coulson also crossing the whitewash. Coulson added three conversions and Ackroyd one. Other good performers were Steve Jewitt, Steve Jepson and Joe Hodgson.

Acorn Under-16s bowed out of the cup at the first hurdle when beaten 32-0 away at Garforth. They didn't adapt to the wet and windy conditions and paid the penalty. Impressive for Acorn were Bobby Foster, stand-off Mark Dawson and debutant Jodey Egginton.

Acorn Under-18s went the same way as they were dumped out the cup at Embassy Longhill of Hull. Acorn's only points in the 14-2 defeat came from a Craig Fox penalty.

Best players were full-back Paul Day and prop Nicky Caldwell.

It was a bad day too for Acorn Under-13s who lost out 14-8 in a hard-fought encounter with Redhill. Acorn's display was built on the tackling of men of the match Chris Varley and Dave Melody.

Try scorers were Simon Wadsworth and Nick Hartley.

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