NOBODY loved a Betfred Challenge Cup upset more than York Acorn this weekend as they sealed their place in the Fourth Round with a 18-10 triumph at Cornwall.

Coach Josh Mortimer admitted to The Press that this time last year, the club were not in the position to make the near 400-mile trip to their fancied Betfred League One opponents, but they were left delighted that they did.

There were cards aplenty in a feisty encounter on the south coast that saw home captain Josh Hartshorne sent off and a further handful of players across both teams spending time in the sin-bin.

But Jack Byrnes starred with a brace of tries, with Alfie Crawford also crossing the whitewash and Antony Chilton scoring a hat-trick from the tee as Acorn became the first amateur team in York to beat professional opponents in the competition.

An eminently-winnable home tie against fellow NCL side Wath Brow Hornets, whom they have beaten at home twice across the last two seasons, now awaits for Acorn later this month.

Having made a blistering start to their Round Three triumph at Orrell St James two weeks prior, things threatened to prove the opposite on the boggy pitch at Cornwall when a swirling Adam Rusling kick caused havoc in the Acorn defence with six minutes played.

Full-back Matt Chilton was sent to the sin bin for a professional foul from the next play with Cornwall less than 10 metres from the whitewash, but Acorn were able to force a mistake on the left edge to keep the hosts out.

Instead, it was the visitors who broke the deadlock with 12 minutes played, Byrnes taking advantage of Cameron Brown's slip to ground Chilton's grubber.

And Mortimer's side came close to adding to that advantage 10 minutes later from a neat show of hands, but Ben Tenge was superbly bundled into touch by his opposite number Harry Aaronson as he looked to dive across into the left corner.

Things took a sour turn shortly after when Rusling was tackled late, with a melee ensuing between both sets of players.

Eddie Prescott and Liam Whitton were yellow-carded for their parts in the mass confrontation, leaving both teams down to 12 men.

But that did not matter for Cornwall who nudged themselves in front for the first time from a goal-line drop-out just after the half-hour. 

Attacking to the right of the posts, some neat footwork from Kaine Dimech saw him mark his introduction from the interchange bench with his first try in Cornwall colours before Rusling tagged on the extras to give his side a 6-4 advantage.

However, any hopes that the hosts had of taking control of the tie were dashed five minutes before the break, Crawford backing himself to burrow across from close range next to the posts.

Chilton made no mistake with the simple conversion, nor from a perhaps fortunate penalty for holding, a helpful gust of wind seeing him eek out Acorn's lead to six points at the interval.

The worsening pitch conditions saw the visitors struggle to get out of their half once play resumed, and they were duly punished when Cornwall opted to run the ball on the last tackle, sending Rusling over into the right corner to cut the gap to two.

But shortly after, tensions over-spilled once more when the Cornwall half-back was hit late for the second time, and again when Acorn forced a mistake from the resultant penalty, with Hartshorne given his marching orders on the hour.

However, visitors could perhaps have counted themselves lucky not to have received any punishment themselves.

And Cornwall were left in disbelief when Byrnes was the quickest to react to another grubber to score beneath the posts, when they believed it should have been ruled out for a knock-on.

Chilton could not miss from bang in front to take the score to 18-10.

But that proved not to be the last action of the game, the players coming together for a fourth time after a high tackle in the dying minutes.

This time, former Leeds Rhinos outside back Coby Nichol was sent back into the dressing room, leaving the hosts to play out the remaining three minutes with just 11 men.

But it was Acorn's day, with a home tie against Wath Brow Hornets on the weekend of February 24-25 a just reward for their efforts.