YORK Acorn made the perfect start to the new NCL Premier Division season with a 22-0 win against Thatto Heath at Thanet Road.
Much of the work had been done before half time in Ant Chilton’s first league match in charge as the ‘Corn continued the form that handed them a lucrative Challenge Cup clash with Hull FC last month.
The win puts Acorn top of the pile after the first round of fixtures, with a tough trip to West Hull next up.
Player/coach Chilton enthused: “It was nice to finally get the season underway.
“We’ve had a long pre-season, starting in December, and the lads were raring to go.”
Recommended reading:
Acorn started the better of the sides in front of their home crowd, with their play clean in attack and physical in defence.
Jack Byrnes brought them onto the board, collecting a fine Nathan Hammerton pass after patient build-up play.
Nathan Conroy kicked the conversion and did so again when Ryan Gallacher was on the receiving end of his pin-point kick to touch down.
The returning Joe Porter capped off a great half for Acorn after being played in by Conroy, who converted for a third time as his side took in a healthy 18-point lead at the break.
The second half continued in the same vein for the hosts, with Matt Chilton scoring their fourth try of the afternoon in trademark fashion from a clever Ant Chilton trick play.
Acorn then put the cue on the rack, and though their discipline at times got the better of them and they gave away a number of penalties, their defence stayed on top form to keep Thatto Heath to nil and send them to the top of the table.
There were notable performances from Eddie Prescott, Byrnes and Ben Husband, but the Man of the Match went to Conroy.
