TROPHY glory awaits York Acorn Under-18s after a dramatic and daring Yorkshire League Cup semi-final victory over Oulton Raiders.

Acorn, division one high-fliers in the Yorkshire Youth League, reached the final by coming from behind, despite injuries, to beat premier division outfit Oulton 26-25 in a mammoth tie thanks to a golden point drop goal from captain Gareth Smith – nearly three hours after the game had kicked off.

There had been a 45-minute hold-up due to a frightening neck injury to Martin Brown – he was later discharged from hospital after being given the all-clear – while 20 minutes of extra time could not settle the contest. It took a further 20 minutes of golden point extra time before Smith delivered the decisive act.

Acorn had started the brighter, Dominic Noone opening their account with a try goaled by Joel Johnson.

However, sloppy defence allowed Oulton to draw level and, although Acorn loose-forward Jack Scarce crossed, more poor defending let the Raiders take a 16-10 half-time lead.

Worse followed as Acorn, who had already lost prop Jack Griffiths to injury, saw stand-off Brown helped off after the lengthy delay, and it looked all over for the reshuffled Thanet Road side in the second half as Oulton went 24-10 up.

However, a fightback was on the cards when Scarce got his second try, Smith goaling, and then second-row Noone got his second too.

Fellow second-row Alex Hutchinson then got the try that completed the comeback and levelled the scores at 24-24 by the final whistle.

Extra time could not settle the issue. Acorn winger Smith, who had moved to stand-off in Brown’s stead, thought he had won it with a late drop goal but with only seconds left Oulton drew level with a one-pointer themselves.

The contest entered the golden point period and, after both sides had missed chances to win the tie, a lack of composure to blame, Smith took his opportunity to slot over the winner and end a superb advert for youth rugby league.