Old Otliensians 17 Goole 25

WITH both sides unbeaten going into the match, Otliensians knew that they had to be at their best to pull off a win against a side relegated last season.

Unfortunately, they were beset by early injuries which caused disruption and though the hosts played well in parts, they squandered two try-scoring chances in the first half, missed several kicks at goal and lost a player to the sin-bin at a crucial time early in the second half.

Goole were the first side to apply pressure by taking play into the home 22. They were held up over the line on one occasion before taking the lead in the tenth minute with a well-worked try.

Otliensians began to settle, but suffered a blow when centre Luke Freer had to leave the field with a recurrence of his “dead leg” from the previous week. He was replaced by Ali Fothergill who himself had to go off ten minutes later with a knock to his leg.

Despite these setbacks, Otliensians were putting some good phases of rugby together. The front row of Simon Hill, Jim Dyson and Michael Groves dominated the scrums, disrupting the opposition ball and generally making life difficult for the Goole half backs.

In the line-out lock Ali Campbell and flanker Sam Featherstone were producing clean ball so there were opportunities for half backs Rob Lofthouse and Ollie Eaves to get their backs moving.

A long kick to the corner by full back Kristian Keinhorst signalled a period of pressure on the Goole line. Several driving mauls failed to produce a score and when the ball was move wide, the visitors’ defence was up to the job.

A kickable penalty was missed and frustration mounted as two clear chances went begging due to hurried passing and jittery handling. In the end, a move in the corner came to nothing, but it resulted in a turnover for Goole and they sent their lively backs away upfield to stretch their lead to 10-0.

John Offer replaced Fothergill with a further shuffle round in the backs, but this heralded a change of tempo as the home side began to attack to Goole line through good driving by the forwards and direct running by the backs. One clear scoring chance was squandered before prop Hill went over halfway out for a try.

Otliensians continued to press through Hill, No 8 Rob Arbuckle and locks Campbell and Jack Smith. With the home scrum trundling forward towards the line, the visitors blatantly infringed and the referee had no hesitation in awarding a penalty try. The conversion by Keinhorst gave the home side a well-deserved 12-10 lead at the half-time break.

The home side squandered another good chance after early pressure in the second half and they suffered another setback when Goole scored a third try after Otliensians had seen one of their players yellow carded.

Centres Luke Cowdell and Josh Howarth ran hard, but there was no way through as the visitors’ defence held out. Quick possession for Goole once more saw their fast backs put together a sweeping move to produce a converted try to make the score 22-12. A long-range penalty a few minutes later moved the advantage to 25-12.

The home side was far from finished and good driving work by the forwards set up a platform for centre Josh Howarth to go in at the corner. The conversion failed and Otliensians were left ruing the chances that got away.