REPORT BY: NICK DOYLE

LEAGUE victories at Brantingham Park are rare, this is Otley’s second, and are beginning to strike a pattern. Score 39 points, leave it to the very, very last moment and score a wonderful try as a climax to the lads’ never say die attitude.

Having kicked off, Hull Ionians had the initial territorial advantage with Charlie Kirk nearly making it to the line. The hosts recycled the ball to the right with James Sanderson trotting over the line to score after three minutes.

Play then swung the other way and after Ionians conceded a second penalty some 25 metres out (it was difficult to see some of the lines because of all the earlier rain, which fortunately had stopped), Joe Rowntree got Otley onto the scoreboard. The game returned to the visitor’s half, two forward passes were I’s undoing, and then a knock-on just inside the half-way line gave Otley a scrum. Ben Waddington barged his way through a couple of tackles, Louis Martin was elusive, and after a couple more phases Ionians stepped offside allowing Rowntree to double Otley’s lead.

From the restart just outside their 22, Otley made good progress all the way to Ionians’ 22 where George Bowen took Eddie Crossland’s pass and then ran the remaining metres to score under the posts. Rowntree added the extras to make the score 13-5 after 17 minutes in favour of the visitors.

This time the I’s didn’t allow Otley out of their half getting a penalty which went into the corner, their driving maul guiding Ally Forth to crash over Otley’s line, Lewis Minikin adding the extra two points. Three minutes later Otley conceded a penalty, allowing Minikin to give Ionians the lead again.

That lead was brief, the hosts were generous in knocking on Otley’s restart. From the scrum on the left-hand side, Otley moved the ball across the pitch were Martin chipped it over two defenders. He then had to make his way through them as they began to turn, diving onto the ball to score. Rowntree was on point and Otley were back in front, 30 minutes in.

Ionians kept Otley penned in their half for the remainder of the half and had a spell on Otley’s 5 metre line which they couldn’t capitalise on. Just as though it looked like Otley were going to get out of their half, Sam Pocklington pounced on a loose pass running the remaining 35 metres to score, his efforts levelling the scores.

With the wind starting to pick up, in the second half Ionians took the game to Otley spending some ten minutes in the opposition half. Alex Forth was just short of the line, with Waddington being asked to take a ten-minute break after going offside as Ionians continued their attack. Hull continued to press and whilst Otley continued to keep them at bay, Otley were still leaking penalties under pressure. The plug finally came when Lucas Powell was held up over the line and Otley had a goal-line drop out.

Otley moved to the other end of the pitch and with a penalty in hand, Sam Taylor nearly scored in the corner but was kept standing over the line. Opting for a scrum, Otley maintained the pressure and having moved the ball across the pitch a couple of times, Crossland dummied his way over the line from 10 metres out, and then added the conversion.

A kick out on the full gave Ionians a line out on Otley’s 22, which also saw Waddington coming back onto the pitch, but in the ensuing melee Sam Hodge took over his throne. Whilst it was a purple patch for Otley, they held out for seven minutes until Ben Stephenson scored from the back of a driving maul, Minikin levelling the scores at 27-27. Three minutes later Will Yates pass, after a 40-metre run, was hacked on twice by Josh Britton who dived onto the ball once it was over the line. The conversion with ten minutes to go looked as though things were going to get hard for Otley.

With the minutes ticking away, a certain nervousness in the opposition 22 saw two Otley mistakes which sent them back to Ionians’ 10 metre line for a line out. From there they got back into the 22 after Martin shrugged off three tackles on his way, and where George Mewburn was yellow carded at the breakdown. From the subsequent scrum, Rory Gaffney swung the ball out to Martin in the corner who evaded more tackles to score.

Now within two and with two minutes to go, there was everything to play for. Bowen caught the restart and for a while Ionians didn’t let Otley progress. Waddington made the crucial breakthrough from just outside his 22 to his 10, before passing to Jacob Holmes. He made it to the opposition 10 metre line before giving to the ball to Ben Dinsdale who had an unimpeded run to the line to the sound of ecstatic jubilation of his team-mates and visiting supporters. Crossland’s kick glided just inside the right-hand post.

This result, together with the way they played, sets up Otley nicely for their last game of the year against Leeds Tykes. Knowing how they can play is no better incentive than to take the game to their nearest rivals to see if they can puncture their unbeaten run. Kick-off 2.15pm.