YORK Acorn produced one of their finest-ever National Conference League displays to turn the form-book upside down when storming to a 28-6 division two success over high-riding neighbours Heworth.

A crowd of about 700 was at Thanet Road to see the Blue and Golds avenge Heworth's big win at Elm Park Way earlier in the season, with the result not helping the Villagers' promotion hopes.

Right from the start Acorn - whose back-to-back victories have not only confirmed their NCL status but also proved their young team is maturing - were focused on the job and, after they had stormed to a 14-4 half-time lead, there was no way back for the visitors.

The opening stages saw both sets of forwards testing each other, with props Mick Hagan and Paul Dodsworth catching the eye for Acorn and Wayne Foster doing likewise for Heworth.

The first score was a Kevin Brundrett penalty for the hosts, but Heworth hit back on 12 minutes with a rare piece of penetrative rugby which saw player-coach Phil Sturdy go over in the corner for an unconverted try.

From then on, though, Acorn gradually started to take control with substitute forward Lee McTigue and substitute hooker Johnny Waldron, the man of the match, giving the hosts' attack more impetus and zeal.

Behind the forwards, full-back Brundrett was safe as houses under the high ball and a handful in the loose, as was centre Paul Day, who was the catalyst for Acorn's upsurge when, after a glut of good approach play, he showed class to side-step then muscle his way over for a 28th-minute try, Brundrett goaling.

Acorn kept the pressure on and indeed turned the screw on 34 minutes when stand-off Danny Liddell showed an eye for the gap and a fine turn of pace to race in for a score which Brundrett converted to give the buoyant Blue and Golds a 14-4 lead.

Acorn's joy was tempered slightly when, a minute later, Steven Irving was sin-binned for holding down. But they showed real character and a better defensive understanding than of late to keep Heworth at bay throughout those final first-half minutes and the opening minutes of the second half.

Heworth did eventually score again on 55 minutes when their best player, Carl Potter, kicked his only goal of the game, but five minutes later the ten-point gap was restored via Brundrett's boot.

The game-breaker came five minutes later when Johnny Waldron danced and weaved his way into space before bringing the home support to vocal delirium with a 45-yard sprint to score under the posts, Brundrett converting.

Acorn put the icing on a sweet cake on 72 minutes when inspirational captain Lee Frank carried all before him on a 20-yard rampage to the line, with Brundrett completing his 100 per cent kicking rate with the conversion.

To add to Heworth's misery, they had experienced substitute Mark Green sent off for dissent in the latter stages of the game.

Heworth spokesman Ken Sykes admitted his side had under-performed. "That is in no way to the detriment of Acorn, who played very well and seemed to be up for it much more than we were," he said.

"Few of our players played to their potential and it was a bit of a horror show really.

"We've been playing well these last few weeks but we hardly managed to play out a set of six on Saturday."

Updated: 09:42 Monday, March 24, 2003