Plymouth Albion 23

Otley 15

OTLEY had to forego the dubious pleasure of a trip to take on Premiership club Sale, always a hard task in the distant days, but also missed out on the rewarding entry into the Shield when they lost this Powergen Cup fifth round tie at Plymouth.

It was not for want of trying and they could have matched their last season's away victory with just a little steadiness whilst enjoying supremacy up front while Albion scored two rather lucky tries.

Otley were also not helped by the fact that every kick for goal was from distant corners of the pitch.

Otley were made to pay for some inaccurate kicking. As early as the third minute Kyle Dench had a chip charged down and and although the ball was recovered Andy Brown's relieving kick fell into the hands of full back James Pritchard and from well outside his own half he made the initial break before handing on to winger Jon Fabian who raced away to the corner to give the home side the initiative.

The packs were pretty evenly balanced in the early stages although Mr Beddows was having a little trouble with the front rows, as is his wont, but by half-time Plymouth were struggling.

Hooker Stuart Friswell finally had to give way with rib trouble which will keep him out of the

return encounter at Plymouth when battle is resumed at the same venue on Saturday, this time in the league.

The equaliser cane on 18 minutes when a clearance kick from fly half Matt Carrington was run back by Ian Shuttleworth to join up with his forwards who drove upfield before releasing.

The ball wenmt down the line for Chris Hall to steam over but the roles were quickly reversed.

Carrington took a kick from Shuttleworth to put in a high ball for Lee Robinson and the winger found the bounce eluding the defence and dropping into his arms with a clear field.

Pritchard converted and his penalty, under the posts on half-time, gave his side an unlikely 15-5 lead.

There was great determination in Otley's work after the break with Wasaile Sovatabua causing havoc and from one of his runs into midfield, where else?, swift passing found Glen Wilson waiting on the wing to cross unmolested.

Such was Otley's hold on the game that it appeared inevitable that more would come but on a rare raid Pritchard kicked a second penalty which increased anxiety and fumbles became turnovers.

The deciding blow came when, after a prolonged bout of pressure on the home line, Fabian ruined what looked a certain try with an interception which left him with a clear field and though heavily pursued he won the race for the corner.

With just eight minutes remaining it was going to be difficult to rescue their predicament but Otley piled on the pressure.

Their only reward was a try for Shuttleworth, coming on the outside to make the final five metres to the corner and they were left eight points adrift thus failing to reach the last 16.

Plymouth Albion - Pritchard; Robinson, Gelderbloom (Barnes 51), Apscott, Fabian; Carrington, Cane; Hopkins (Scales 73), Friswell (Pearl 80), Paletti, Hunt, Perry, Cowrie, Stroud, Tooaza.

Otley - Shuttleworth; Hall, Dench, Mooney (Law 71), Sovatabua; Binns, Brown; Wring (Trethewey 66), Luffman (Sayers 66), Fullman, Oakes, Connor, Thorpe (Stockdale 52), Tiffany, Wilson.

l On Saturday Otley again travel to Plymouth Albion, this time for a National One league game.