Otley Town 2, Ripon City 1

A MATCH short on quality came to life in an eventful last few minutes that ultimately saw Town claim three crucial West Yorkshire League points.

The majority of the game was largely forgettable, with the home side unable to force the Ripon goalkeeper into a single save of note.

For their part, the visitors were marginally better but still without looking likely to break the deadlock either.

That is until a scrappy goal with around 20 minutes remaining looked as if it would give them the spoils.

But with time running out, fate took a hand and deprived Ripon of a key defender, who was forced to leave the field with a dislocated shoulder.

When the game restarted, they conceded a needless corner and Scott Firth's beautiful delivery looked to be crossing the line anyway before a Ripon player planted a header into his own net.

In so doing, he also suffered an injury and this time a replacement could not be brought on as all three permitted substitutions had been made.

Reduced to ten men and still reeling from conceding the equaliser, the away side were now under sustained pressure.

And once again a set-piece was to prove their undoing, the ball being forced home via a Ripon player after the archetypal goalmouth melee.

So a victory at last for Otley but with a performance that was far from convincing.

They will hope to improve when they take on Grassington United in the County Cup at home this coming Saturday (1pm).