York Acorn coach Alf Hill saluted his side's promotion to the top tier of amateur rugby league for the first time in the club's history.

Acorn's win at Thatto Heath guaranteed them a place in the National Conference League's Premier Division next season.

Hill told BBC Radio York: "At the start of the season we were tipped to finish second off the bottom so that was our first bit of motivation.

"With such a young side, to achieve promotion is absolutely brilliant."

Earlier in the season Acorn lost a crucial game to Wigan St. Judes, who went on to become champions.

"At that point I just felt we didn't have enough experience to do it, but the young lads have done so well and improved so much," Hill added.

Everybody put their game together on Saturday, it was an amazing achievement York Acorn coach Alf Hill

Acorn achieved promotion the hard way due to controversial fixture dates. They had to play one game without three international players, and another at Wath Brow in Cumbria on a Wednesday night.

Hill said: "We tried to let it not bother us, we had to make a song and dance about it or otherwise [the league] will do it all the time. We only went [to Wath Brow] with a couple of the lads missing. The lads were prepared to take time off work, go there and do a job."

The defeat at Wath Brow was a tough blow but on the long journey back Hill kept reassuring the players they could still win promotion by winning at Thatto Heath on the next Saturday, which they did 34-18.

"Everybody put their game together on Saturday, it was an amazing achievement," Hill added.

Acorn can finish second or third in Division One. Wath Brow can overhaul them, but they may have to beat Thatto Heath in a promotion decider to do so.