A LATE try and conversion denied York Acorn victory on Saturday and saw them slip up in the National Conference League division two promotion chase.

Huddersfield Sharks stand-off Kevin Bower crossed with six minutes remaining and Richard Knights added the extras to level at 16-16 and steal a share of the spoils.

The result lifted the Sharks three points clear of Heworth in the re-election zone, and at the other end of the table has seen Acorn fall a point behind second-placed Ince Rose-bridge, with Waterhead still only one point behind and now with two games in hand.

The Blue and Golds have now dropped three points in their last two games against lower opposition, but boss Dave Kay remained upbeat.

He said: "As daft as it seems we're still quite happy with a point because it means our destiny is still in our own hands - if we win our remaining games we will still go up.

"We're disappointed overall that we didn't win but it was always going to be tough against a team fighting against re-election and the small pitch made it difficult to play our open rugby."

Acorn had looked on course for victory when Alan Willitts touched down with ten minutes left, Andy Gargan adding the extras for a six-point lead.

Gargan, taking over the kicking duties from Kev Brundrett, who broke a leg last week, had given the visitors the lead with an early penalty but Sharks responded well as Knight and Colin Denby scored tries and Knight a conversion for a 10-2 lead.

That advantage was cut to 10-8 at half-time as Kyle Palmer crossed for Gargan to convert, and Gargan levelled things up with another penalty after the break as Acorn's game improved.

Willitts' try appeared to give Acorn the crucial win but then came that late response, and perhaps more worryingly for Kay is the fact a few more players suffered knocks, the seriousness of which will be known later this week.

Updated: 11:07 Monday, February 07, 2005