THERE was no hint of a Powergen Challenge Cup upset at Castleford on Saturday as York Acorn were brushed aside by big favourites Lock Lane in their preliminary round clash.

The big-guns from the premier division of the Arriva Trains Conference were always in control of proceedings and they ran in ten tries in total to beat the division two outfit 56-0.

It is no surprise that Acorn were beaten, although they will be disappointed with the scoreline, with the touchdowns coming at regular intervals throughout the game.

Stuart Briers opened the scoring after just three minutes, though it was fellow winger Andy Tillett who thereafter led the way with a hat-trick of tries. Two of his tries came before the break, with Mark Spears also crossing in the first half and prop Wayne Hardy tagging on three goals for a 22-0 interval lead.

Acorn, with half-back Andy Gargan and hooker Stephen Waldron prominent, worked hard in defence and battled in vain to keep the score down, but the power and pace of the home side was too much for them, especially as the defensive legs began to tire.

The scoring restarted two minutes into the second half as loose-forward Lee Hughes powered over and Lock Lane, with scrum-half Dave Probert controlling play and initiating attacks, increased their domination.

Centre Matt Bateman touched down twice, Tillett completed his treble, Tony Handford crossed and fellow substitute Jamie Price completed the try-scoring, while Hardy finished with seven goals and David Wolford landed an eighth.

Lock Lane now meet Batley Victoria in the first round of the Cup, while Acorn's neighbours, Heworth, given a bye in the preliminary round, entertain Edinburgh Eagles. Ties to be played Saturday, November 29.

Meanwile, Heworth winger Gavin Grant scored a hat-trick of tries but was still on the losing side as the Villagers went down 26-18 in the league at Norman-ton Knights.

Following the ebullience of last weekend's derby triumph at York Acorn, Heworth were hoping to kick-start their campaign and get on a winning run to climb the Arriva Trains Conference division two table, but they were brought down to earth long by half-time as the hosts built up a commanding 14-0 interval lead which paved the way for their victory.

The Villagers had the better of the second period to close the gap but it was not enough to turn the game on its head and so the York side remain cast adrift in the re-election zone.

Hooker Lee Aspinall booted Normanton ahead after Carl Potter had missed a couple of early two-pointers for Heworth, and then tagged on the extras to the opening try of the game, scored by winger Kevin Bateman in the corner.

Defences were on top for the rest of the half until, on the stroke of half-time, home full-back Michael Butterfield crossed to extend the lead, with Aspinall again goaling.

Heworth hit back soon after the restart as Grant intercepted and raced 60 metres for his first try.

Potter goaled and added a penalty to leave the Villagers one score behind, but the gap increased as Normanton's Gavin Barratt and scrum-half Kevin Martin both crossed, with Aspinall's two conversions leaving the visitors with a mountain to climb.

Brendan Carlyle's side, with Carl Barrow impressive at loose-forward, got half-way up as Grant grabbed two more tries to complete his treble with eight minutes still to play, the second one converted, but they were unable to reach the summit as the home side held on in defence.

"We were a bit unlucky in the first half," said Heworth spokesman Ken Sykes. "Their first try was off what appeared to be a forward pass and their second was right at the end, so rather than being 2-0 down at half-time it was 14-0.

"But we're not too dejected as we're playing better as a unit so we will win games. We had a lot of possession in the last ten minutes to probably secure the win if we'd been a bit steadier. We were very good in parts and not so good in other parts."

Updated: 12:37 Monday, November 17, 2003