York Acorn got their National Conference League division two campaign off to a flyer with an emphatic 58-16 home win over a game but outplayed Cottingham Tigers.

Acorn played superb rugby at times, especially in the first half, and although it would be foolish to get too carried away just yet, it seems certain that suggestions Acorn could finish in the bottom two are very premature.

Acorn served notice of their intentions in the second minute when prop Paul Dodsworth stormed over from 25 yards, taking two would-be tacklers with him.

Stand-off Darren Callaghan missed the conversion attempt, a trend that was to haunt him all afternoon as he was to miss ten in all.

However, Acorn's attack, under the guidance of half-backs man of the match Callaghan and scrum-half Danny Liddell, was to flow freely and the missed kicks were not to prove costly.

Acorn went 8-0 up on six minutes when rampaging centre Gareth Lloyd scythed over out wide.

The point per minute continued on eight minutes when centre Rob Lee fielded a short kick-off to race 30 yards before slipping a wonderful pass which saw Callaghan gallop over from 20 yards.

Cottingham hit back on 12 minutes when scrum-half Rich Anderson ghosted through a static defence to score a try which loose forward Craig Adams converted to make it 12-6.

Acorn reasserted themselves with a five-try burst in 28 minutes of champagne rugby, starting when prop Lee McTigue burrowed his way over from close range for a deserved try. This time Callaghan converted.

Tries by scrum-half Danny Liddell, by virtue of a 50-yard interception from a defensive scrum, and Lloyd saw Acorn increase their advantage to 26-6 by the 28th minute.

Callaghan proved that while having an off day with the boot he was having the opposite with ball in hand and on 32 minutes he underlined his class when throwing a dummy and cutting through from 35 yards out for a try he converted.

On the stroke of half-time, Callaghan chipped over the Cottingham defence and substitute forward Mark Hebblethwaite reacted quickest to score.

Callaghan's conversion saw Acorn go in at the break 38-6 in front and they looked set to continue the rout after the break when Lloyd crashed through to complete his hat-trick.

Cottingham never gave up and with second rower Paul Hatton and centre Gary Mowforth working hard, they gained some consolation when scoring tries through left winger Paul Campbell (52 mins) and Hatton (62 mins), converted by Adams and substitute Sam Wray.

But sandwiched in between their two tries was Callaghan's hat-trick try, and the final 15 minutes saw Acorn score three more tries through substitutes Johnny Waldron (70 minutes) and Carl Rollinson (75 minutes) and second-row Kenny Embleton (78 minutes) to complete an entertaining display.

Updated: 11:36 Monday, August 27, 2001