YORK Acorn ARLC put on their best performance of the season to see off National Conference division two promotion rivals Ince Rosebridge 38-26 - despite being a man down for the best part of an hour.

Hooker Mick Fitzsimmons - later described by Acorn coach Dave Kay as probably the best disciplinarian at the club - was sent off after just 24 minutes for flooring an Ince loose-forward in full flow.

After that, the dummy running tactics that had seen Mick Hagan put Acorn 12-6 ahead seconds earlier after superb prop Adam Endersby created space, were all but shelved.

A penalty for Fitzsimmons' indiscretion was converted to close the gap and Ince levelled with a try in the corner as they made their man advantage count.

Andy Gargan kicked a penalty to restore the Acorn lead but then the disappointment of a hot-potato try being ruled out for a forward pass was drummed home as Ince broke downfield with a try on the stroke of half time to go in 14-16 up. It was that kind of tit-for-tat game.

A Rosebridge winger evaded two wildly inaccurate tackles to ground just five minutes after the restart, but then Johnny Waldron revitalised the Blue and Golds with a darting run which ended with skipper Lee Franks crashing over from a Chris Hopcutt lay-off.

A mess of a kick-return at the start of the second half invited Rosebridge to go four points ahead.

But then Acorn's first-rate set completion began to tell. They twice forced Ince to kick out from under the posts before Gargan, who kicked six out of six conversions and got a try of his own after spotting a yawning gap in the Ince line, released Waldron to dodge two tackles and ground.

Rosebridge clawed their way back with two tries, one coming with Acorn down to just 11 men as Mick Embleton limped off, to make it 26-26.

But Andy Lee dived in from a Waldron pass after sub Fran Starkey accidentally - and spectacularly - kicked the ball out of a tackle to make it 32-26 and the shout went up for a drop goal.

But Starkey instead scrambled over the line on the last tackle to seal a momentous win and Ince's first loss in seven games.

Updated: 10:05 Monday, March 21, 2005