York Acorn suffered their first National Conference second division defeat in five games when desrevedly beaten 25-4 at home to a well-drilled Sheffield Hillsborough Hawks outfit.

Acorn failed to heed the warnings of last week's poor showing against London which, along with indiscipline, bad ball retention and too much one-man rugby, contributed to their downfall.

Acorn started brightly and were unlucky not to take the lead on three minutes when Michael Embleton put Alan Willitts through but the referee ruled a forward pass.

After that Acorn rarely utilised their wide attacking game, instead trying to bash down the middle which played into their opponents' hands.

Sheffield opened the scoring after nine minutes when scrum-half Jon Nicholls followed up an up and under to touch down and add the conversion. Acorn hit back on 20 minutes when second rower Darren Crake stromed over after breaking blind from a scrum.

They were then hampered by several forward pass decisions but Sheffield still looked the more likely to score and only an excellent cover tackle by full-back John Hough on 30 minutes prevented the Hawks from extending their lead before half-time.

Sheffield soon took control in the second half, loose forward Phil Hough scoring after Acorn failed to deal with another up and under.

Another moment of indiscipline by Acorn saw hooker Mark Mosey sent to the sin-bin and Sheffield scored wide out through centre Dave Roberts.

Captain Jason Davidson added a drop goal and second rower Luke Brennan scored a try seven minutes from time to wrap up a convincing win for the Hawks.

Pick of the Acorn side were forwards Crake and Gary Taylor, centre Gareth Lloyd and winger Alan Willitts.