Sedgley Park 24 Otley 21

OTLEY continued where they left off from last week and, having survived the initial Tigers onslaught, took the lead in their National Two North encounter.

Mike Coady intercepted a pass just inside the visitors' half and took off, passing the ball to Paul Petchey to give him an easy run to the line. Joe Rowntree added the conversion to establish a 7-0 lead.

It took the home side eight minutes to restore parity after hammering hard on Otley’s line. Fly-half Steve Collins eventually found a gap in the defence and squirted through. His conversion levelled the scores

Both sides had opportunities before Jamie Harrison latched onto a kick by Andrew Riley to get around the Otley defence and score in the corner.

With the first half coming to an end, Otley went close to scoring when hooker Ben Steele stretched out his arm to place the ball to score, only to have it ripped from him.

Fortunately, Park had already conceded a penalty and the visitors kicked for touch. Oli Goss went over for a try and Rowntree slotted the conversion to give Otley a two-point lead at half-time.

Sedgley Park scored three minutes into the second half. Second rower Bob Birtwell went through with Sam Lowthion finishing off the move in the corner.

Will Rigg turned winger and stormed down the left-hand side before being tackled, although the home side were penalised at the breakdown.

Otley had dominated the scrum all afternoon, and their pressure paid off with a penalty try after 50 minutes.

Otley defended their lead for the next 20 minutes as Sedgley Park became more desperate to get another try.

With seven minutes to go Otley conceded a penalty just inside their half.

Rather than take the shorter option, Sedgley kicked cross field into Otley’s 22 on the right-hand side.

From the line-out they set up a rolling maul which led to a try for Tom Coe.

Knowing that Otley were not going to lie down, the Tigers continued to pressurise the visitors and kept the visitors hemmed in their 22.

Otley did try and break out but, rather than make a mistake and lose possession, sensibly decided to end the game by kicking the ball into touch to ensure that they kept the losing bonus point.