YORK Acorn will have “no excuses” if they fail to beat Ince Rose Bridge on Saturday, said head coach Leigh Paul-Rientoul.

The Blue and Golds are still reeling from last week’s National Conference League division one defeat to Leigh Miners Rangers in which they gave up a 10-point lead with as many minutes remaining to lose 25-24.

But Paul-Rientoul believes this weekend will be a different proposition and – if the side can improve on managing their sets – he says his men can emulate the result from May when Acorn won the reverse fixture 28-10.

Of the Leigh defeat, he said: “It’s a hard pill to swallow. Their coaches afterwards were saying the better team lost.

“It just comes down to game management again. I can’t knock the lads for effort, it’s that we were getting to the last tackle and messing up on more than one occasion.

“If we can get that last tackle sorted, I don’t see any problems on Saturday.

“I think they (Ince Rose Bridge) will come to us looking to turn us over with us going to them and winning, but our lads play better at home. With the good weather too, we’ll have no excuses.

“If we don’t get the points, we’ll have to go back to the drawing board. If we want to get into the play-offs at the end of the season, we’ll really need to start winning these games.

"Our main aim is to get those points to stop the top six slipping away.”

Yorkshire Men’s League premier division strugglers New Earswick All Blacks host Siddal Academy on Saturday while division one high-fliers Heworth will look to keep up the pressure at the top of the table when they travel to Allerton Bywater.

After opening the season without a point from seven, York Acorn ‘A’ will aim to extend their three-match winning run at home to third-placed Hunslet Club Parkside and York Lokomotive host division three leaders Brighouse Rangers.