Old Otliensians 17 Ilkley 2nds 14

OLD Otliensians have one piece of silverware in the bag and aim to make it a double for departing coach John Walker.

They defeated Ilkley Seconds in a well-contested Latino Ceramics Aire-Wharfe Cup final on Tuesday night at a chilly Chaffers Field.

On Saturday, the Yorkshire Division Three club are at home to Knottingley in a semi-final of the Yorkshire Shield, with Division Four runners-up Skipton waiting in the final at Bradford Salem on Wednesday, May 10 (7.15).

One unusual thing about the Aire-Wharfe Cup final, which is jointly sponsored by Trevor Smith, of Sprayplant (UK) Ltd, was that there were no points between the 26th and 74th minutes.

In a hard-fought game where both sides failed to capitalise on their opportunities, three penalties by Ilkley fly half Charlie Ramsey were matched in kind by Otliensians winger Connor Bateman.

Bateman's triple came inside the opening 15 minutes, while two of Ramsey's came after the hosts lost Rob Lofthouse with the recurrence of a neck injury, although Chris Westland did a fine job in replacing him.

Ramsey hit the near upright with a penalty attempt in the seventh minute of first-half stoppage time, but Bateman missed a gilt-edged chance nine minutes into the second half when he couldn't grasp a grubber kick, although he was under pressure.

A high tackle a minute later by Ilkley replacement Joe Lowes sparked a brawl that led to experienced referee Mike Ramsden dismissing Lowes and handing Otliensians No 8 Rob Arbuckle a yellow card for unnecessary involvement in the fracas.

Otliensians fly half Will Cooper calmly dropped a goal with six minutes left, and Westland plunged over on the right five minutes later.

Former Otliensians winger Declan Jackson got a try back in injury time but Ilkley didn't look like scoring again as play was concentrated in their own half.

It was the hosts fourth successive Aire-Wharfe final and their second success in that time, and Walker said: "We were deserved winners, we played some good rugby and Ilkley rarely looked like scoring."