HOME was not where the parting shot was for York Acorn as they signed off their National Conference division one season in defeat.

Despite a man-of-the-match performance from number seven Timmy Elliott, Acorn perished 38-16 to strugglers Eccles & Salford Juniors.

The visitors were quickly into their stride to lead 14-0 with tries from Carl Mort and Jake Johnstone converted by Mike Davies, who added a penalty.

Just before half-time Acorn got on the scoreboard with a Mike Embleton try, kicked by Danny Liddell.

But the opening spell of the second half mirrored that of the first as the visitors posted touchdowns from star performer John McAtee and Carl Mort, again Davies twice accurate with the boot.

Acorn then produced their best spell in a ten-minute burst which yielded a try for Gareth Howell and a deserved one for Elliott, the second goaled by Ben Potter to reduce the deficit to 26-16.

However, the hosts could not sustain that pressure and it was Eccles & Salford's McAtee who tagged on conversions to tries from Jason Viller and Martin Wilcock.