Otley 3, Nottingham 43

In a hard-fought but clean National League One game littered with injuries yesterday, it was Otley, who could least afford it, who suffered the most.

Despite having Callum Black - on loan from Worcester - making a fine debut they found themselves short of props by the end of the third quarter so scrums became uncontested.

Steve Trethewey had already left the field injured and his prop replacement Ryan Wederall was also injured, Ian Shuttleworth also leaving the field having taken a knock.

The big Nottingham side have – give or take a few – been together for some years now and are reaping the benefits, sitting high in the league with just one defeat against leaders Leeds Carnegie.

Now playing at Meadow Lane, the Midlanders are harbouring dreams of promotion and, although this result suggested a one-sided game, they had to work hard, not claiming their bonus point until the 57th minute but then running in two late tries.

They set off full of running, getting right winger Andrew Savage over within five minutes, but there had been a forward pass.

However, Otley settled and contained a number of forward raids on their line, with skipper Dan Hyde ever in the forefront, but on 14 minutes, having held a drive from a close-in line-out, they were left a man short when the ball was swung wide, left winger Jack Cobden crossing and running in to give fly half Timothy Taylor a simple conversion.

An all-out attack from the restart went wrong for Otley when a dropped pass was picked up by hooker Joseph Duffy.

He broke through before handing to centre Tim Molenaar, who had an open run to the line, Taylor getting another easy conversion.

Accepting this setback Otley began to cause Nottingham a few tight moments, Robin Kitching coming inside to make the break and set the backs in motion but a forward pass thwarted this effort and it was left to fly half Tom Rhodes to get them into the game with a penalty on 40 minutes.

Taylor took an early penalty chance straight after the break and, when Otley failed to clear the restart, he made a clean break through the middle to provide prop Nigel Hall with a try.

The battle continued unabated with Otley holding their own but the large Nottingham following were relieved when scrum half Christopher Pilgrim scythed through to put Jackson over.

But it was late in the game before they could add to that, Savage and replacement prop Neil Fowkes - four minutes into added time - getting over the line, Taylor kicking all three conversions.