YORK Acorn's hopes of automatic promotion suffered a setback when they were beaten 30-24 at a resurgent Oulton Raiders.

The visitors' wounds were largely self-inflicted, with several moments of ill discipline that on two occasions saw players sent from the field whilst in possession of the ball.

The first came towards the end of the first half when substitute forward Jensen Okhovat reacted to unfair treatment around his head in the tackle and was adjudged to have used an elbow before playing the ball. This saw Acorn reduced to 12 men following Okhovat's sin-binning.

During this period, Acorn conceded 12 unanswered points just when it seemed they were in the ascendancy.

The second case of ill discipline came towards the end of the game when second rower Tom Hill was denied a try on the grounds of being held up.

A moment of dissent saw Hill sin-binned before eventually been red carded for more back-chat as he made his way off the field.

Oulton took an early lead with a converted score on six minutes after Acorn had given away back-to-back penalties.

The away side responded seven minutes later when centre Jordan Potter crashed over for a try out wide, which Chilton goaled to tie the scores up.

The York side took the lead with a magical attacking moment on 25 minutes – scrum half Lewis Brown putting Hill through the gap before taking a wonderful over the shoulder return pass and racing in at the side of the posts for a try goaled by Chilton.

Oulton restored parity at 12-apiece shortly after when they notched a converted try of their own.

Then came Okhovat's aberration. The hosts made the extra man count with their third converted score of the half, giving them a handy 18-12 lead at the break.

Oulton made the numerical advantage count again early in the second half when, on 46 minutes, they took advantage of a missed one-on-one tackle to register their fourth converted score.

On his return to the action, Okhovat made some amends for his absence when he produced a wonderful out-of-the-tackle pass to put Martin Pedersen Scott in for a try goaled by Chilton. That reduced the hosts' lead to 24-18.

However, Acorn's momentum was thwarted by handling errors and the initiative was handed back to the Raiders, who stretched their lead to two converted scores when notching another six-pointer.

Both sides went close at either end of the park before Acorn were denied a try for Hill on the intervention of the referee. This proved too much for the forward who quite literally saw red.

To their credit, the visitors managed to set up a tense finish when their man-of-the-match prop forward Tim Stubbs crashed over at the side of the posts. Chilton added the extras to cut Oulton's lead to 30-24 – the final score.