Otley 24, Plymouth Albion 29

NO one felt the bitter cold at Cross Green on Saturday, the pace, power and passion of the game left no time for such trivialities as both sides gave all for what was a contest for the top of the middle section of League One, the championship being fought out elsewhere.

For the second time this season Otley have lost twice in succession and as at Bedford it was self-inflicted, allowing both Plymouth wingmen to run in from 40 metres out which led to them being 22-10 down at half-time having had most of the play.

Otley started badly when the kick-off was knocked on, which gave Albion a scrum on their 22, and the error was compounded with a penalty, conceded under the posts, for off-side fly-half Tom Barlow making no mistake, but within two minutes Otley were ahead.

An exchange of kicks ended with David Scully kicking to the corner, where the defender was forced into touch, and the drive was on from the line-out but it was pulled down, and with no further warning Mr Biggs signalled a penalty try, easily converted by Simon Binns.

The advantage lasted just a couple of minutes. Straightforward passing down the line ap-peared to be causing no problems but speedy left winger Pat Sykes managed to come round Neil Law and evade all other attempts to grab him, going over in the corner.

There was then the rare sight of Binns missing a straight 35 metre penalty as Otley turned up the heat but again they shot themselves in the foot. A spectacular leap on the touch-line by full-back Simon Hawkins kept a long clearing kick in play but he was under pressure when recovering the ball, and just managed to find the covering Scully, who attempted to kick the ball deep, but it fell nicely into the hands of right-winger Lee Robinson who cut inside and found the defence opening for him to run unhindered to the posts, Barlow adding the conversion.

It was still Otley with all the possession and though Binns was wide with another penalty his miss was cancelled out when he was immediately given a second successful chance from a similar spot but Plymouth struck again from another rare visit to the home 22.

A kick to the corner was well followed up and a line-out was won to set up the usual drive. This was held out but a scrum conceded, where the attacking back row broke away to set up a second drive which was deemed to have been pulled down, and another penalty try ensued, Barlow again converting.

Otley came out full of determination but their defence was unpicked soon after the break, only being saved when Sykes knocked on. They kept up the pressure, being rewarded with the third penalty try of the game, culprit Duncan Sayers getting a yellow card for his trouble.

The remainder of the game belonged entirely to Otley and after an excellent drive from the pack the ball was swung wide and a superb long, flat pass from centre Matt Oliver gave Law a look at the line and he crashed over. Binns, reading the difficult wind well, converting from wide out.

The onslaught continued and the visitors found themselves a man short with prop Dan Parkes sent to the sin-bin and in his absence Kris Fullman grounded in the corner. Binns again converted to set up a breathless final 25 minutes, which included 11 minutes of added time but the vital try was not forthcoming as Plymouth game battled through.

l This weekend Otley make the long journey down to Exeter for their next National One game.The party will leave Otley at 5.45 pm on Friday evening and stay overnight.

The squad for this game is: S Hawkins, N Law, R Whatmuff, M Oliver, W Sovatabua, L Rivett, S Binns, D Scully, C Kendra, J Wring, D Sayers, M Luffman, K Fullman, S Trethewey, J Oakes, P Williams, I Carroll, S Connor, N Bland, E Thorpe, N Southern, M Smith.