YORK Acorn made it six wins in a row as they beat promotion rivals Skirlaugh 24-20 in NCL Division One.

Ironically Acorn's win owed so much to their performance during that extremely difficult first half, as they managed to use the wet and windy conditions of then first half to their advantage superbly.

Once again their tactical kicking maestro, stand-off Anthony Chilton was the man who continually kicked their hosts deep into their own half and, along with arch try poacher and half back partner Lewis Brown, controlled the game throughout that opening 40 minutes.

Acorn opened their scoring on the six-minute mark, when Brown himself created the opening to send second rower Tom Hill charging into space 10 metres into the Skirlaugh half. He eventually drew the full-back before sending the supporting Brown in for a great try, goaled by Chilton to put Acorn 6-0 up.

The visitors doubled their lead on 12 minutes, following a planned move full-back Joe Budd put in a great grubber kick which was eventually grounded by winger Josh Parker right in the corner. Chilton then added a difficult conversion from out wide.

Acorn as an attacking force were flying once again and, on 19 minutes, Brown intercepted on the halfway line before racing in for the first of his double. Chiltons conversion stretched Acorn's lead to 18-0 with only the first quarter gone.

Up to now Skirlaugh had shown little in attack due to the conditions and a resolute Acorn defence that have grown in confidence as the season has progressed to date.

In fact, the host's first points of the game came on 27 minutes as a result of an Acorn handling error deep inside the Skirlaugh half.

Their opposition then quickly turned defence into attack and they moved the ball from one end of the park up to the other and eventually into the hands of centre Sam Roe who crossed for an unconverted score to cut Acorn's lead to 18-4.

Acorn managed to regroup and shake off any side effects from conceding that try when, on 33 minutes, substitute hooker Lewis Lord went over from close range. Chiltons converted.

After the restart you could sum the second half in the following words; role reversal and attritional - as Skirlaugh were the side who looked more likely to score and Acorn were finding it hard to get any quality field position.

Despite several power hits in defence from Acorn forwards Reece Rushworth, Tim Stubbs and Connor Page, it was Skirlaugh who started to claw back Acorns big lead, bit by bit.

Starting on 55 minutes when a high kick out wide brought a try for Alex Gibley to which stand-off Carl Puckering goaled to reduce Acorns lead to 24-10.

The comeback was definitely on, when Skirlaugh reduced Acorn's lead to 24-16 by virtue of a try on the hour mark by their prop forward Chris Smith, who took full advantage of a yawning gap in front of the Acorn posts to score a try goaled by Puckering.

The game now was in the balance as the hosts were in the ascendancy.

Acorn were still doing enough to thwart a determined Skirlaugh side for the majority of the final 20 minutes, albeit on one occasion they left themselves short out wide on their left and Skirlaugh scrum-half Liam Betts scampered in for a 75th-minute unconverted score to register the final points of the game.