Heworth's slim chances of escaping the re-election zone in Arriva Trains Conference division two were reduced again as they lost 28-6 to Ince Rosebridge.

The three teams above them also lost - Cottingham going down to bottom-club Millom - so the gap remains at seven points, but the Villagers are running out of games.

Heworth spokesman Ken Sykes said: "They were a pretty decent side so it was not all that bad. We battled and played well in parts but they got six tries to our one and that says it all really."

Weak tackling allowed visiting scrum-half Frank Cassidy to cross before Heworth took the lead as speedster Gavin Grant intercepted and raced 80 metres to the sticks, Carl Potter goaling.

However, two tries before half-time from loose-forward Owen Lloyd, converted by centre Lee Jukes, and Cassidy, after a lucky ricochet, put the visitors 14-6 up.

Heworth substitute Lee Clarke and Ince's Neil Jukes were sin-binned for handbags four minutes into the second half and six minutes later the visitors crossed again through Carl Roden following a 50-metre break by Wes Eles.

Lee Jukes converted and added another try just before the hour-mark, before stand-off Stuart Cassidy completed the scoring seven minutes from time.

Scrum-half Chris Hammerton was Heworth's man of the match, while player-coach Brendan Carlyle led the tackling from hooker, prop Simon Harrison ran hard, and Wayne Foster and John Coulson were to the fore in the second half.

Neighbours York Acorn again returned empty handed from an away game, losing 40-2 at high flying Rochdale Mayfield.

Again they started badly, going 16 points down by the quarter-hour mark, and again they got themselves back on track in the middle only to tail off at the end.

Mayfield deservedly took the spoils, but Acorn were not 40 points worse and can feel that on another day with a bit more calmness in attack close to the line, a tighter defence early on and a few favourable calls from the officials, they would have given their hosts a more testing fixture.

Prop Adam Endersby and substitute forward Nicky Caldwell ran strongly, while centre was Alan Willitts tackling well, and to their credit the final stages of the first half saw Acorn get to grips with the game. On several occasions they went close, only to be denied by some stout tackling and bad luck - as in the case of loose-forward Michael Embleton, who failed to ground the ball when over the line.

Acorn's only points of the first half - and of the game - came from a Kevin Brundrett penalty as they went in at the interval 20-2 down.

The second half saw Acorn compete well and they held Mayfield to 28-2 until the final seven minutes, when their discipline slipped and they had Brundrett sin-binned for dissent and Danny Liddell also yellow-carded for a professional foul.

With only 11 men, they conceded two late tries which gave the hosts a flattering scoreline.

Acorn had given the Rochdale line a pounding at times but were unable to deliver a blow, mainly because they lacked a cohesive cutting edge.

They did break through once when the outstanding Endersby smashed through from 40 yards but he was foiled on the line by a despairing lunge.

Updated: 10:16 Monday, February 16, 2004