YORK Acorn ARLC A' team coach Chris Bedingham was a happy man after seeing his side move to the top of Yorkshire League division three.

The Thanet Road club are going for a promotion double with the first team riding high in National Conference division one and the reserves doing likewise in their league.

The latter went to the summit on points difference above Castleford Panthers A', who were involved in cup action, after an 18-0 win at mid-table Milford Marlins A'.

Wingers Tony Shepherd and Tom Galloway and scrum-half Kev Brundrett got the tries, with Brundrett adding three conversions.

Bedingham said: "It was a very good display. It's been a long time since any team have nilled Milford at their place. They were really pushing for a win to get back into the play-off picture but we needed the win to cement our place in there."

In the Yorkshire League, the top four teams in each division go into straight play-offs for a single promotion place. The top two get home advantage in the semi-finals.

Heworth A' made a terrible start to their division two fixture at Doncaster Toll Bar and never recovered.

The Villagers conceded 24 points in the opening quarter and went on to lose 60-6.

The ten-try hosts made light of the bad conditions to play some good open rugby, which was helped by Heworth's weak defence.

The Villagers, 42-0 down at the break, made a better fist of it in the second half thanks to good efforts from Paul Watson and Danny Sinclair in the backs and Dave Varley and Jamie Richardson in the forwards. Their points came from Mark Watkinson, who collected a kick from Gary Watkinson and raced 60 metres to touch down and convert.

Ben Jones, who has recently departed Hunslet Hawks, was back in action for his amateur club, New Earswick, as the All Blacks A' team won 22-14 at Guiseley Rangers in the Pennine League Supplementary Cup.

Jones had been pencilled in to play for the York Select representative side in the friendly against York City Knights, but pulled out. He instead had a run-out, in order to get his fitness levels up, for All Blacks' reserves.

All Blacks' first team, who were without a game, dropped to fourth bottom of the premier division after Kippax Welfare's shock win over champions Drighlington.

Selby Warriors' woes continued as they failed to raise a team and forfeited their league game at division three leaders Bank Top Harriers. Some players were already unavailable for the encounter and the squad were then hit by a sickness bug.