SCOTT RHODES has handed the York Acorn ARLC reins to his assistant Stuart Brown this weekend – and landed him with a big selection headache.

Head coach Rhodes is away for the Blue and Golds’ trip to West Hull in the National Conference League premier division, and so Brown, who coached Heworth last season but made the cross-city switch in the winter, is in charge.

He has been in consultation with Rhodes over team selection but it will prove a tough call after last week’s events, when a side shorn of half a dozen front-line first-teamers gave one of the best performances ever seen at Thanet Road to topple leaders Thatto Heath.

That half-dozen, including Arran Thompson, Davey Burns, Joe Porter, Alan Willitts, Jordan Hyde and Adam Enderby, most of whom were on a stag do last week, are back and itching for a recall, but Brown may stick with a similar line-up.

‘A’ team coach Nic Caldwell – whose own team selection for the visit of Milford ‘A’ in the Yorkshire Men’s League premier division will depend on who gets the nod for the firsts – said: “With the performance last week, I think Scott might want to keep faith in those lads although he has some really talented players coming back. It’s a tough one.”

Tough fixtures are coming thick and fast for Heworth.

The Villagers always knew this new-look division three would be hard given the batch of top regional clubs who joined the NCL at the start of term.

And hot on the heels of defeats to Woolston and Pilkington Recs, two such clubs who are aiming to rise through the tiers, the Villagers now face a trip to a Blackbrook side who have lost only one of their ten NCL games to date.

Blackbrook were the team that ran York City Knights close in the Challenge Cup third round, only being denied a memorable shock win by a last-minute Knights try.

Spokesman Ken Sykes said: “It’s one after another at the moment. We run into less stormy waters over the next few weeks, but Blackbrook is going to be hard.

“We’ve played most of the tough games and a lot quite recently – Kells twice, Underbank twice, Pilks away, Woolston, and now Black-brook. We have to keep battling.”