“Had we got this draw last year, I would have been emailing the RFL saying that we can’t afford to go.”

That is the stark message from York Acorn boss Josh Mortimer as his side make the near 800-mile round trip to Cornwall in the Third Round of the Betfred Challenge Cup tomorrow lunchtime.

It has become almost customary for the NCL premier side to face long away trips in the competition, having travelled to the Portsmouth-based Royal Navy and Edinburgh Eagles over the last two seasons.

Acorn’s will travel down to Cornwall today, with players staying in a hotel overnight before playing the tie, and then making the journey back to York.

But with the financial implications involved, Mortimer admits that this time last year, the club would not have been in a position to make the long trip south.

“It’s no secret the obviously the club was struggling financially around this time last year,” he explained to The Press. “We were about £45,000 in debt at one point.

“But through a lot of hard work from the volunteers and the main committee, we managed to turn that around and the club made a decent amount of money last year. 

“Financially we’re alright, we can pay for it and deal with it this year.

“Had we got this draw last year, I would have been emailing the RFL saying that we can’t afford to go.

“You either pay everything for us, or we’ll have to forfeit the tie.”

Acorn earned their place in the Third Round with a 22-12 victory at Orrell St James a fortnight ago in front of The Sportsman cameras.

Whilst Mortimer’s side were the favourites for that tie, they are the underdogs against Cornwall, who ply their trade one tier above in the Betfred League One.

But having the pressure off his team is an ill-afforded luxury that the Acorn boss is relishing.

“It’s nice because you’d not often really cast us as the underdogs,” Mortimer admitted.

“When we’re playing West Hull or Hunslet, or even Rochdale [Mayfield] last year, they would be going into those games feeling the pressure and the pressure’s probably off us.

“But then the rest of our division, everyone can beat everyone on their day. It’s about catching people on their off-days or teams being good at home and more sluggish away.

“It’s nice to purely have that pressure off us. If they beat us by 40 or 50 points, that’s what they’re expected to do - I’m not going to lose sleep over it or it runs right through my team or anything like that.

“We aren’t travelling nearly 800 miles to just roll over and not progress to the next round because we want that home tie and there’s a chance of that in the next round.

“That would be nice.”

As for Cornwall themselves, it is hard to know just what to expect.

Having voluntarily withdrawn from this season’s AB Sundecks 1895 Cup, they have played just one behind closed doors friendly this year.

“They’ve got some good lads,” Mortimer warned. “I know a couple of the lads who play for them and a couple of our lads know a few.

“The game could go one of two ways, and I think if we turn up with a poor attitude or think that we’re just here for some beers on the long way back, we could get a bit of a pasting.

“But if we can mix things up with them and upset things for 20 or 25 minutes and have them scrambling, we can make it a bit of an arm-wrestle.

“If we can turn it into a bit of a dogfight, it’s who wants it more, isn’t it? 

“If we show the the level of commitment and desire that we usually show, then I’m confident we can mix it with anyone.”