ELMPARK Way turned into something resembling a youth club when Heworth ARLC took on Millom as no fewer than ten teenagers were involved.

Both sides fielded five under-18s players, with the visitors coming out on top 30-12 with two converted tries in the second half without reply sealing the National Conference division two points.

Heworth were happy with their display, though, with spokesman Ken Sykes saying the efforts of the youngsters bode well for the future.

"It was not a bad performance," he said. "We had a very young team out, though, having said that, so did they. Their experienced players pulled them through a little bit better than ours."

Heworth were without player-coach Chris Smith due to hamstring trouble and lost another key man early as forward Dan Briggs suffered a broken nose. And these were big blows, despite excellent displays from man of the match Lee Rientoul and loose-forward Luke Judson.

"We felt we had a chance but given the fairly inexperienced team it was a good effort," added Sykes.

Millom went ahead in the fourth minute with a try by Graham Lupton converted by stand-off Paul Evans, but Heworth hit back when, after good passing and support play involving teenagers Liam Watling and Marcus Allan, stand-off Rientoul went over.

A converted try by speedy winger Warren Lloyd in the corner extended Millom's lead but again the Villagers stayed in touch as a Judson pass put young second-row Sean Coulson in for a try and goal.

A 25th-minute turning point saw Evans miss a penalty at goal, only for Lloyd to collect the resultant drop-out, beat the first line of defence and accelerate to the line for a converted score and an 18-10 advantage.

A Coulson penalty brought the Villagers to within one score at half-time but converted tries by Evans and hooker Lupton took the game away.

Sykes added: "We had a big part of the possession and territory in the second half but a combination of poor options, dropped passes and excellent scrambling defence meant we weren't able to score."

York Acorn put up a decent fight at division one leaders Ince Rosebridge but the Wiganers by then had raced ahead and were not going to be caught on the hop.

A fine try from half-way by centre Ian Rostron set them on their way after just three minutes and he added a second from a cross-field kick.

A third home try came on the back of one of several Acorn spills - Wes Else collected a stray pass and raced 75 metres home - and Lee Jukes crossed for a fourth before Acorn got on the scoresheet through Mike Embleton to make it 20-4 at half-time.

Darren Callaghan and Andy Gargan tried to get Acorn ticking again and they crossed through prolific winger Jonny Waldron but when Jukes scored on the hour mark and added his third goal, it reasserted Ince's advantage.

Acorn had the last word as youngster Tom Mackley went over ten minutes from time but the points stayed at home leaving the Blue and Golds needing a maximum haul from their games in hand to push for a promotion place.

Updated: 11:45 Monday, January 16, 2006