Sedgley Park 7 Otley 19

WITH Sedgley Park sitting at the bottom of the league it was essential that Otley came away with a win. Park however, have been playing better of late and being in greater need than the visitors of the league points they had targetted this game for a possible victory.

They are not without talent having eight former Leeds Tykes players on their books and two who have played at Cross Green. At times they looked capable of making a game out of it but their only score came from a horrible mix-up at the base of a scrum 40 metres out where they took full advantage.

They managed to frustrate an Otley side who were fielding a much changed midfield.

With Simon Binns out for three weeks with a hand in plaster, Ian Shuttleworth still not recovered and centre Rob Whatmuff reporting unfit Chris Hyndman was invited to fill in at fly-half.

He was a great success, prompting his makeshift centre pairing of Paul Mooney and Tom Rock, interspersing with typical strong runs but not being quite as efficient as his predecessors with kicks from hand.

The forwards whilst not getting all their own way went about business as usual and were the forerunners of all three tries. It was a mystery why there were not more but the home defence was at least efficient and it was a surprise that they did not take an early lead. Fly-half Phil Jones missed with a straight 50m penalty and though in the second-half in particular they had Otley trapped in their own 22 they failed to break through.

Otley set themselves up when Tom Fourie, doing what a good No 8 should, dropped a high kick to provide an attacking scrum and he was made to pay for his error as his side were driven backwards.

Patient rucking and mauling by Otley before opening up produced a chance but full-back Robin Kitching was unable to hang on to a pass so it was back to the forwards. The relieving kick found touch but Otley drove on to get over the line only to be recalled for a five metre scrum.

Dave Scully broke blind and although surprised to find Waisale Sovatabua on his wing gave him the ball and the No 11 brushed aside the first tackler and took the next two over with him. Kitching landed a fine conversion.

It looked too easy but there was a wake up call when Scully attempted a reverse pass which was gathered by Arno de Jager. He burst through to hand on to scrum-half Jamie Albinson who went in under the posts. Jones equalised with the conversion.

This setback caused some anxiety in the Otley ranks and they started to lose shape with the game descending into a dour contest. It was 16 minutes into the second-half before the lead was regained, Matt Stockdale scoring.

Replacement scrum-half Andy Brown orchestrated the final score with a superb high kick and was there to sneak over after his forwards had done the hard work. Kitching again converted.

Mark Luffman unluckily found himself singled out for a yellow card for his side's persistent infringements and with 14 men Otley had to settle for keeping their line intact.

l On Saturday Otley entertain London Welsh looking for a double.