Otley Town 5

Menston R 1

THIS was a game about which you could use all the well accepted football cliches. Otley Town on a hiding to nothing; Menston Rangers nothing to lose, everything to gain, etc, etc. Fortunately, none of it materialised and Town made comfortable progress through to the second round and a meeting with old rivals Ventus/ Yeadon Celtic at Dan Lane on November 20.

The scoreline belies Town's supremacy against hard working visitors who turned in a spirited display but who, despite scoring once, hardly ever looked like troubling Andy Pickering in the home goal.

Lee Grice and James Firth scored in the first 10 minutes to remove any anxiety but this did no good for the game which only re-awoke when Turnbull volleyed home for the visitors on 28 minutes.

Tom Dixon, skippering in the absence of Ian Wolfenden, and Ross Barron each scored within the next minute and the game really was over now. An early goal from Barron, a cracking shot, gave Town the nap hand early in the second-half but his next effort was nothing short of an apology for a harshly awarded penalty.

Needless to say, the visitor's 'keeper had little trouble saving Barron's kick. He did have a chance to perform some heroics later with good saves from Firth and Grice but Town made life relatively easy for him with some poor finishing.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.