After holding their own in the early stages Acklam's performance fell away as they went down to a heavy defeat against a strong Westoe team.
In the opening minutes Acklam stole a Westoe line out and stand off Danny Ashton kicked deep, although a defender was able to touch down for a 22 drop out. When Acklam knocked on from the kick the home side quickly built pressure and after driving from a line out they moved the ball wide to score in the corner.
Acklam hit back straight away. After winning a scrum then a penalty from the restart they had a line out on Westoe's 22. From the lineout centre Andy Dunn made a lovely break and exchanged passes with Ashton to score under the posts, converted by Ashton to put Acklam 5-7 up after 10 minutes.
That was as good as it got for Acklam, however. After conceding possession and penalties their line was again under threat and after Westoe looked to drive over in the right hand corner they switched play with a clever cross kick, taken to score on the opposite side. A good conversion put Westoe back in front 12-7.
Acklam were still right in the game and a good take, run and kick by debutant full back Brandon Wright resulted in an attacking line out in the Westoe 22. However, the home team won the ball back and after strong running and poor Acklam defence Westoe forced a line out close to the Acklam line, from which they drove over and a great conversion made it 19-7.
Then, either side of half time, things started to fall apart for Acklam. They suffered with first half injuries to prop Jamie Bowtell-Potter and second row Tim Savage and when replacement prop Jordan Rae was sinbinned for a dangerous tackle Westoe ran the ball and gained good field position from which they went wide and, despite a brave last ditch tackle by Wright, scored their bonus point try. Acklam did have another chance before half time when Wright took Ashton's chip but instead of passing outside to his winger Jacob Robinson he tried to give the ball back inside and it went to ground.
It was 26-7 at the break and the second half had just started when Acklam shot themselves in the foot again. Westoe were threatening but knocked on. However , what should have been an Acklam scrum turned into a penalty for Westoe as the referee took exception to something said to him. Westoe took a quick tap and ran in another try.
For the rest of the match it was just a question of how many points Westoe would score. They got another soft try when their line out jumper was allowed to catch the ball and run in unopposed. As Acklam tired and struggled to get out of their own half Westoe ran in 3 more tries and the game ended in a heavy 55-7 defeat for Acklam.
They will need to produce a much better performance when they entertain Hartlepool Rovers next Saturday.