Cullingworth Youth 2 Otley Tavern 2

TAVERN'S hopes of toppling the Wharfedale Triangle Division One leaders on their own ground were scuppered by a late equaliser.

Victory would have helped the Otley side to close the gap on their promotion rivals, but they had to settle for a point in a game where three penalties were missed.

Both sides had early chances before Tavern broke the deadlock after 35 minutes. Mitch Lambert-Tuthill squared a free kick to Johnny Weedon who slotted home calmly from ten yards.

Cullingworth started the second half brightly and only some great blocking by the Tavern defence kept them at bay.

Cullingworth levelled on the hour after a free kick was headed onto the post. The rebound fell to the feet of the onrushing attacker who put the ball into an empty net.

There was then a ten-minute frenzy which saw three penalties awarded.

The first was awarded to Cullingworth and was blazed over the bar. Two minutes later, Tavern were awarded a spot kick after a shirt pull on Jamie Braithwaite prevented him going clean through on goal. The spot kick was well saved by the Cullingworth keeper.

Tavern took control again and pressurised Cullingworth, leading to a goal from Ben Palmer.

Lambert-Tuthill closed the keeper down and forced him to fluff his clearance straight to Palmer who smashed the ball home from 20 yards out.

Minutes later a second penalty was awarded to Cullingworth which was again blasted over the bar.

Tavern looked to be holding on well with a 2-1 lead but Cullingworth were throwing everything forward.

Tavern felt they should have had a penalty when Braithwaite was brought down in the Cullingworth box.

The pressure was building and Cullingworth levelled in the final ten minutes with a header from a corner.