Manchester 20

Otley 3

OTLEY'S urgent requirement appears to be travel sickness pills as once again their form deserted them away from Cross Green.

It was particularly disappointing against Manchester, a team anxious for any kind of victory during a bad run, after the wonderful performance against Exeter which tempted a large following to cross the Pennines.

They allowed home fly-half Andy Kahn to run the game and although they had their moments an all encompassing defence held them to a single penalty.

The back row had to be re-arranged when Jonathan Burke pulled out and centre Phil Greaves, starting with a heavily bandaged thigh, lasted only 24 minutes before having to be replaced. Second row Paul Williams sustained an ankle injury which kept him side-lined for almost ten minutes during which time the first try was conceded.

Both sides were one short either side of the break when home hooker Mike Armstrong had a pop at Duncan Sayers at a scrum and was shown the yellow card.

He was obviously unhappy and marched off through the Otley ranks, giving Sayers a dig as he passed which was rightly ignored but when he then had a go at David Hall he quickly found himself flat on his back. Exit Hall but curiously no red card for Armstrong.

Otley made the early running and almost scored when a break by Andy Brown put Greaves clear on the Manchester 22 but he was pulled back, the pass forward and that was to be the main threat of the day.

Although having a strong breeze at his back Kahn chose to run the ball and the reason was plain as Otley found difficulty tracking the good running lines of his three-quarters and 13 minutes into the game Kahn cut clean through to give centre Phil Graham an unopposed run to the post, full-back Marcus Barrow converting.

Pulling down at a line-out on the home 22 allowed Simon Binns to strike a good penalty but Barrow responded similarly three minutes later and almost immediately Kahn and his men swept through the Otley midfield, prop James Batt being the beneficiary, strolling over between the sticks giving Barrow a second easy conversion.

Otley were not without their moments, they spent lots of time in or near the home line, battering away, but to no avail.

Manchester appeared to have all the answers, throwing a blanket defence over everything thrown at them and whilst winger Mark Kirkby occasionally raised hopes he was always well covered.

Substitutions in the last quarter when all replacements were sent on brought about a new impetus but no further score. A penalty from Barrow in the 73rd minute to extend the Manchester lead was the only addition.

l The game against Moseley, cancelled due to frost on January 5 will now be played on Saturday, February 16. The visitors to Cross Green this week are Birmingham Solihull who were the victors 41-16 early in the season on their home ground.

OTLEY (home to Birmingham Solihull, kick-off 2.15 pm): I Shuttleworth; S Smith, R Whatmuff, J Davis, M Kirkby; S Binns, A Brown; R Kelly, D Sayers, D Hall, P Williams, I Carroll, P Griffin, J Burke, J Tiffany. Repl. A Pogson, Hapafila Liu, P Curtis, N Bland, P Wright, M Billington, M Walker.

Saracens (at Doncaster, meet at 11.30 am): R Duckett; W Darby, S Gardner, T Foster, R Leighton; J Henry, M Birch; D Setterington, M Hallewell, S Rice, S Hudson, S Connor, I Judson, I Spence, M Wright. Repl. G Cassidy, R Lyons, A Greig, M Gillson.

Tongans (at Bradford and Bingley, meet at 12.30 pm, kick-off 2.15 pm) from: A Campbell; P Ayres, A Keeler, A Edson, C Jackson; W Foster, S Kershaw; C Booth, C Minchella, C Burns, S Henson, M Keeler, S Oliver, J Vyvyan, N Girling, G MItchell, G Guyers, S Barton, A Midgeley, B Birkhall.

Viscounts (home to York, meet at 1.15 pm for 2.15 pm kick-off). Team to be notified by Jamie Chappell.