OLD Otliensians have one piece of silverware in the bag and aim to make it a double for departing coach John Walker.

They defeated Ilkley Seconds in a well-contested Latino Ceramics Aire-Wharfe Cup final on Tuesday night at a chilly Chaffers Field.

On Saturday, the Yorkshire Division Three club are at home to Knottingley in a Yorkshire Shield semi-final, with Division Four runners-up Skipton awaiting the winners at Bradford Salem on Wednesday, May 10 (7.15).

One unusual thing about the Aire-Wharfe Cup final was that there were no points between the 26th and 74th minutes.

In a hard-fought game where both sides failed to capitalise on their opportunities, three penalties by Ilkley fly half Charlie Ramsey were matched by home winger Connor Bateman.

Bateman’s triple came inside the opening 15 minutes, while two of Ramsey’s came after the hosts lost Rob Lofthouse with the recurrence of a neck injury, although replacement Chris Westland preformed well.

Ramsey hit the near upright with a penalty attempt in the seventh minute of first-half stoppage time, but Bateman missed a gilt-edged chance nine minutes into the second half when he couldn’t grasp a grubber kick under pressure.

A high tackle a minute later by Ilkley replacement Joe Lowes sparked a brawl that led to referee Mike Ramsden dismissing Lowes and handing Otliensians No 8 Rob Arbuckle a yellow card for unnecessary involvement in the fracas.

Otliensians fly half Will Cooper calmly dropped a goal with six minutes left, and Westland plunged over on the right five minutes later.

Former Otliensians winger Declan Jackson got a try back in injury time but Ilkley didn’t look like scoring again as play was concentrated in their half.

It was the hosts fourth successive Aire-Wharfe final and their second success in that time, and Walker said: “We were deserved winners, we played some good rugby and Ilkley rarely looked like scoring.”

Yarnbury Seconds won the Latino Ceramics Aire-Wharfe Plate final last night, beating hosts Baildon 16-7.

Former Jenny Laner Jarrod Huss landed three penalties up the slope, Baildon replying with an Adam Hewitt try that Matty Robinson converted to make the half-time score 9-7 to the visitors.

Yarnbury added a twinkle-toed try by fly half Danny Pound that Huss converted in the second half, but Baildon wrongly had a Matty Robinson try chalked off for offside from a Matt Withers kick.