YORK Acorn ARLC got their National Conference League division one campaign up and running with a 32-16 victory at Millom.

After a draw and two defeats from their opening three matches, the Blue and Golds finally put a win on the board with the held of a Matthew Woods hat-trick.

The centre opened the scoring with a try in the second minute, with Antony Chilton converting to give the visitors a 6-0 advantage.

Millom responded with three tries and two conversions, capitalising on mistakes in the Blue and Golds' defence.

Ricky Donoghue, Chris Warren and Ian Armstrong were the men who crossed for Millom, while Paul Evans kicked the goals.

However, the visitors refused to lie down, with an injection of power from the bench helping them to hit back to lead 18-16 at the break.

Chilton crossed the whitewash and added the extras to make it 16-12 before winger Ryan Gallagher pounced on an error just before the break, Chilton goaling again.

Acorn started the second half as they had ended the first and they got their reward on 53 minutes when Woods got his second try, which went unconverted.

Five minutes later, Gallagher kicked a penalty to put the visitors 24-16 in front.

They stretched the lead to 12 points on 65 minutes with Woods' hat-trick try and the points were secured with ten minutes remaining when star prop Davey Burns made a powerful run to the line.

The Acorn man of the match was prop Mike Embleton, backed up by fellow forwards Burns and Adam Endersby, while Woods was the outstanding performer in the backs.

Acorn are third from bottom in division one on three points, while the early pacesetters are Oulton Raiders with five wins from five matches.

There was no game for Heworth in division three, who are sixth in the table after one win and two draws from their opening four games of the campaign.