YORK Acorn Under 14’s came out on top in their derby clash with Heworth, running out as 20-8 winners.

The first half saw Acorn full of enthusiasm and effort, but they were lacking in discipline with ball in hand.

Even though Heworth had most of the possession in the first half, it was to be Acorn who took the lead when a strong run and offload by Finley Atkinson, when already over the try line, resulted in a try for Harrison Lawday.

Atkinson added the conversion.

With the half-time break approaching, lacklustre defending by Acorn's right edge defence allowed Heworth to reduce their lead at the break to 6-4 with an unconverted score.

Acorn came out a much more polished side after the restart and they scored almost straight after the game's resumption.

A great kick return from Taylor Bass had the Heworth defence all out of shape and allowed Atkinson to power over from Acorn's left edge to stretch his side's lead to 10-4.

Acorn's ball security and completion rate was far better than was seen in the first half and meant Heworth's defence was having to work very hard to try and stop a much more energetic Acorn attack.

The Acorn forwards were building a platform that allowed their edge attackers more space in which to try and create more opportunities to further their advantage.

The ever-dangerous Elliott Wellburn, who was causing Heworth problems all game, then scored a great try from 30 metres out, when a combination of a strong run allied to some good footwork brought him a well deserved unconverted try.

Then to round off a man-of-the-match performance Wellburn powered over with a run, that saw him race from the right side to Heworth's left edge before putting the ball down for a try inches away from the touchline.

To make it an even more memorable score, Atkinson turned it a six pointer by adding a wonderful touchline conversion that put York Acorn into a match winning 20-4 lead.

With the final whistle looming, Acorn were guilty of switching off defensively on their right edge defence and Heworth took full advantage to score their second unconverted try of the game.

Elsewhere, York Acorn U12s suffered a tough opening to their Yorkshire Junior League Division One season, losing 50-0 to highly-rated Castleford-based outfit Lock Lane.

To their credit, Acorn never gave up in the face of the Lane's forward pack onslaught.

Acorn winger Aston Suter won the man-of-the-match award for York while half-back Oliver Harrison and centre Jack Wootton were named as man-of-the-match winners as voted for by the opposition.