Josh Mortimer 'couldn't be more proud' of York Acorn in Challenge Cup

That was the overarching emotion of York Acorn boss Josh Mortimer after his side’s battling performance against Halifax Panthers in the fifth round of the Betfred Challenge Cup.

The Thanet Road amateurs had defied the odds to even reach that stage of the historic competition, seeing off Orrell St James before backing up a third round upset at Betfred League One side Cornwall with a thrilling victory over fellow NCL side Wath Brow Hornets two weeks ago.

Not just reaching the fifth round for the first time in their history, Acorn also finished as the competition’s last community club standing, and progressed further than York Knights.

But despite falling to a heavy 62-6 defeat at The Shay, Mortimer could not have been prouder of his side’s efforts against their Betfred Championship opponents.

“I’m buzzing. I’ve never taken such a beating and been so happy about it!” he laughed.

“I’m really happy with my fellas, I couldn’t knock them.

“We ran out of substitutes at the end and we were a man down, but we managed to sneak over for a score. I thought that we definitely deserved something.

“Halifax are a fantastic team and they were scoring points for will at one point but my boys, they just grafted.

“I couldn’t be more proud of them! I’m probably not far off crying to be honest.”

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Acorn started the better of the sides in the pouring West Yorkshire rain, with Matt Chilton and Ben Tenge both coming close to opening the scoring inside an opening five minutes that saw Halifax pegged back within their own half for the majority.

But Eddie Prescott’s 17th-minute sin-bin proved to be costly for the amateurs, who conceded twice during his spell on the sidelines.

Tom Inman fed Matty Gee to add the first points to the scoreboard, before Adam Tangata’s line-break allowed Ben Tibbs to dive across to the left of the posts.

Ben Kavanagh added a third try for the hosts on the half-hour, with Joe Keyes then selling Acorn a dummy as he crossed for a fourth before the break.

Acorn battled valiantly, but Halifax pulled away to a 62-6 triumph with a strong second-half performance. (Image: Craig Hawkhead)

Mortimer had no complaints about Prescott’s sin-bin, but conceded that it had certainly stifled his side’s encouraging start. 

“I’ve got no issues with the sin-bin,” he admitted. 

“It was a high tackle and it was rising, so hopefully it’ll be that a sin-bin is sufficient. I don’t think that he deserved sending off, but that’s probably a fair call. 

“But it did take the wind out of us. 

“We’ve fallen foul of it a bit in recent years when we lose a middle to a sin-bin, we don’t adjust defensively. Halifax then were cutting us apart through the middle of the field.

“I keep talking about my edges tightening up and they’re worried about getting run around, and it’s difficult. Halifax are massive as well - Larroyer, Kavanagh - they’re comfortably bigger than our biggest lads.”

But whilst the 22-0 scoreline somewhat flattered Halifax at the interval, the visitors’ fatigue saw them run away with things in the second half.

Gee had his hat-trick 15 minutes after the restart, with Ryan Lannon, Louis Jouffret, Keyes and Zack McComb all adding their names to the scoresheet.

But Acorn were rewarded late on, with Antony Chilton burrowing his way over from close range to score in the final minute before adding the extras.