Heworth toppled by title hopefuls

Friends to foes: Heworth's ex-Skirlaugh full-back Richard Darling is tackled by his former team-mates

No way through: Heworth's Carl Potter is brought to ground by the Skirlaugh defence

In a pulsating clash at Elmpark Way, the Villagers, third from bottom of the table, were just three points behind the Bulls with three minutes remaining until former Hull Kingston Rovers centre Rob Moulds crossed for his second try.

There was still time for Heworth to come back but Andy Gabel's last minute try came just too late for the home side.

For Skirlaugh it was another two vital points in their quest for the Conference championship while for Heworth there was the knowledge that performances of this calibre in the next few games should see them move away from the relegation area.

The game had everything for the sizeable crwod - excellent tries, superb defences, powerful individual displays and a cliff-hanger.

It was difficult to tell 17 points and eight wins separated these two sides, but in the end it was the Bulls' self-belief that saw them through.

They had a tower of strength to lead the pack in international prop forward Dean Ralph while Moulds' finishing, which saw him grab a brace of tries, proved clinical and crucial.

Second row forward Steve Morrod gave Skirlaugh the lead after eight minutes but two penalty goals from stand off Carl Potter brought Heworth level within 16 minutes.

Scrum half Chris Brown restored the visitors' advantage when Heworth were adjudged to have pinched the ball before a Potter drop goal on the stroke of half-time reduced the deficit to one point at the interval.

In the second half, substitute Andy Tindall had only been on the field nine minutes when he raced after an Andy Mercer kick ahead and left the opposition for dead as he collected the ball and raced in from 50 metres to give Heworth the lead for the first time.

But then came the first of Moulds' strikes as he scythed through the defence for a second Skirlaugh try and a one-point lead.

Ralph had been a handful all afternoon and when he charged through for a 55th minute try the Bulls looked to be taking control.

But Heworth came back again with 19-year-old centre Mark Tipping scoring his first senior try for the club from an Andy Gabel break.

That left the score 16-13 to Skirlaugh which was how it stayed until three minutes from time when Moulds shot through the gap for his second try which Stuart Farr couldn't improve.

Gabel then went in for his late effort but it came just too late to give Heworth the chance of avenging their early season 30-12 defeat at the hands of the Hull side.

The other Conference premier division results went in Heworth's favour with Wigan St Patricks, who are six points behind the Villagers, losing 16-10 at home to Castleford Lock Lane and fellow strugglers Askam, who Heworth meet next week, going down 17-12 at home to Saddleworth Rangers.

Dockers drubbing floors the All Blacks

New Earswick All Blacks' misery continued as they followed up last week's 72-2 drubbing at Eastmoor with a 46-0 hammering by Hull Dockers.

With the All Blacks' injury problems still at crisis point there was no respite as home side Dockers took control from the start and ran in eight tries.

This was never going to be as close as the reverse fixture in September when Dockers triumphed 32-24 and by half-time they had stormed into a 28-0 lead.

Halfback Paul Garner did the damage and finished with a fine personal points haul of 26 points from a hat-trick of tries and six goals.

His brother Steve also weighed in with a touchdown as well as goaling the final try.

There were also two first half tries from centre Jason Vassilakopoulos while Darren Hazelwood completed the rout with the final try on the full-time whistle.

For All Blacks the season goes from bad to worse - next week they face a daunting trip to league leaders Ideal Isberg.

In other second division games, Eccles won the battle of the two promotion contenders, beating Blackbrook to go second, while Eastmoor kept up the pressure with victory at London Skolars.

Leaders too strong for Acorn

York Acorn found National Conference second division leaders Ideal Isberg just too strong as the game wore on and were eventually beaten 37-12 at home.

In the first half Acorn certainly held their own and gave a good account of themselves with their captain Darren Callaghan in brilliant form, closely followed by good contributions from hooker Lee Frank, winger Kenny Embleton and evergreen prop forward Gary Taylor.

Isberg, 24-2 victors in the early season encounter between the sides, started the scoring with a penalty goal from their man of the match, prop forward Paul Wardell.

Acorn hit back with an excellent team try on 20 minutes which involved eight pairs of hands that created the space from which Callaghan romped over for a try which he converted.

The Blue and Golds held onto the lead until the 35th minute when the game swung away from spirited Acorn.

Ideal hit back with a try by their full-back Phil Batty, goaled by Wardell, and before Acorn could regain their composure the duo repeated the feat to give the visitors a match-winning 14-6 lead at the break.

In the second half Isberg moved up a gear while Acorn lost their way when their form dipped dramatically.

Seven minutes after the restart the Hull side stretched their lead with a try in the corner by left winger Richard Russell, goaled by Wardell.

The lead soon became 26-6 courtesy of a try by Isberg centre Charlie Patterson, converted by Wardell.

Ideal's stranglehold continued as they scorched in for two more tries by right winger Darren Redfearn and substitute Paul Russell.

A conversion by hooker Tony Wardell and a drop goal by the impressive Batty rounded off their scoring.

Acorn at least had the consolation of scoring the game's last try when Gareth Lloyd burst over, Callaghan adding the extras.

Also impressive for Acorn were Mick Calam and Under-18 stars Danny Liddell and Dave Lonsdale.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.