Jack Senior Memorial Bradford Cup: Wyke 4 Odsal Sedbergh 10

A TOUCH of brilliance from stand-off Paul Bottomley earned Odsal Sedbergh the right of passage into the semi-finals after a dour encounter against Wyke at Towngate Rec.

Wyke, having first use of the slope, made a woeful start when they could not keep control of possession in the opening exchanges and had to rely on the tackling of full back Tim Stones, who brought Odsal wingman Callum McMahon to ground twice in quick succession as he headed to the whitewash, to keep their line intact.

A clumsy head-high challenge from prop Kris Fawthrop resulted in a yellow card but Sedge shook off the reduction in numbers when scrum half Steve Suddards galloped 40 metres upfield before he ran out of steam.

But he quickly regained his feet to play a crucial part in sending wingman Oliver Priestley haring over in the corner.

Centre Luke Dawson was denied when he knocked on over the line as the visitors sought to increase their lead, and the black and whites at long last managed to put a set of six together to put prop Ian Wormald over the chalk but he was held up by four defenders to prevent the equaliser.

A recharged Wyke came out strongly on the restart and battered the Sedge line through loose forward Sean Godfrey and prop Ben Kelly, with substitute teenage half-back Corby Kitson calling the shots, but the visitors weathered the storm to force a scrum on the host's 20-metre line.

The wily Bottomley produced the game-breaker when he spotted the opportunity to intercept a poor pass from the Wyke scrum feed to sprint to the posts and leave Suddards to add the extras for 10-0.

With plenty of time still left on the clock, the game was far from over, and the home outfit once again took up the cudgels to lay siege in the Sedge red zone.

Wyke gained just reward for all the pressure when Godfrey stepped daintily out of the clinging mud to power his way for an unconverted effort, which only turned out to be a consolation prize to finish off a scrappy game.