ANTONY Chilton made a dream start to his tenure as York Acorn sailed through to the second round of the Challenge Cup with a 52-4 thrashing of GB Police.

Ben Husband notched a hat-trick and both Josh Thompson and Clayton Shepherdson doubles as Acorn left themselves just 80 minutes from a coveted home tie against Super League side Hull FC in round three.

To achieve that though, they must overcome NCL Division One side Oulton Raiders at Thanet Road on Saturday.

It took just three minutes for Acorn to open their account, debutant Jack Green showing great footwork and a keen eye for the tryline as he beat four defenders before diving across into the left corner.

A short restart by Police was then gathered by the returning Thompson, back playing rugby after breaking his back in 2021.

He put the ‘Corn on the front foot and provided an excellent back-door pass for the tenacious Shepherdson to finish. Nathan Conroy’s conversion handed them a 10-0 lead.

The Police though soon began to find their feet and had the best of the 10 minutes that followed, with a couple of well-deserved edge breaks unlucky not to result in more.

Their best chance came when their right winger broke away 30 metres downfield and held the Acorn full-back up perfectly, only for the final pass to be dropped.

Jack Green found the whitewash on debut. (Image: Andy Nelson Sports Photography) With the game instead swinging back in the visitors’ favour, Conroy came to the fore, controlling the forwards and forcing a half-break almost every set.

Therefore, it was little surprise when Thompson crashed over from a fantastic Conroy set-up play to score Acorn’s third try of the afternoon.

Chilton’s side were not done there, finishing the half with a well-executed scrum play.

Green played a block shape with Matt Chilton around the back before finding Husband in open space, whose strong finish into the corner handed Acorn a comfortable 18-0 lead at the break.

The second half began in a similar vein to the first as Acorn burst out of the blocks, with Husband scoring two quick-fire tries.

Both came from a similar shape, with their forwards setting the platform before quick hands from Green and Chilton sent Husband across into the left corner. Conroy added another conversion to his tally.

And Acorn scored their third try of the half in just the 53rd minute.

George Hunt sent a grubber kick towards the corner which the Police failed to deal with, and after a few ricochets, the ball fell kindly for Josh Parker to deservedly add his name to the scoresheet. Conroy again converted to extend Acorn’s lead to 34-0.

Josh Parker celebrates his second-half try. (Image: Andy Nelson Sports Photography) The Police though found the reply their efforts had deserved three minutes later when a short kick-off from Scott Leatherbarrow wasn’t dealt with, and instead had Acorn pinned back to their own line.

Smart play by Leatherbarrow then set up the Police’s number five to produce a fine finish to get his side off the mark.

Acorn reacted by scoring from the next play, Danny Byworth gathering a loose kick off and doing the hard work for Hunt to crash in under the sticks and hand Conroy a simple conversion.

As the game entered its final 10 minutes, Thompson crashed over for his second, with great work from Conroy in the build-up leaving a relatively simple finish for the tall centre, who stretched out an arm from 10 metres out to put the ball down.

The late drama was not done there, with a heavy hit on Jack Byrnes leading to a confrontation between the players. As a result, both the Police number eight and Elliot Bulmer finished the game in the sin-bin.

There was still time for Acorn to bring up their half-century, with a chip and chase from Conroy hacked on for Shepherdson to score. Conroy’s sixth conversion rounded off the scoring, and a bright start to the Chilton era.