REPORT BY: NICK DOYLE

WITH the wind on their backs, and with the rain to come, Otley kicked off their contest at Lymm.

However, the first meaningful attack came through visiting man Sam Taylor. Will Martindale then made another surge, getting the ball to Adam Malthouse but he was held up over the line by Tom Shard.

Play continued in the Lymm half, until Otley conceded a penalty but a forward pass by Lymm then brought their advance to a halt. Otley were then caught offside just outside their 22, and from the line-out Lymm calmly walked the ball to the line, Rob Makin dropping down to score after 11 minutes. The wind pushed the conversion attempt across the posts.

After a period of play in the middle of the pitch, Lymm made it into Otley’s 22, but knocked on having failed to breach Otley’s defence. Otley conceded a penalty just in their half, but Dan Preston-Routledge out-jumped the Lymm line-out to secure possession. The game move to the other end of the pitch, a defensive clearance kick being pushed back by the wind to give Otley an eight-metre line-out. They lost possession in the subsequent melee but regained it when Lymm were offside on their 10-metre line. The penalty kick missed.

Lymm knocked on a clearance kick in their half, and moments later Otley failed to catch a pass giving the home side a scrum on their 10-metre line. From there, Cal Morris sold a dummy before being tackled in Otley’s 22. Lymm continued going forward, Ben Thompson being held up over the line. The dead-ball kick was caught by Paddy Jennings in his own half, the winger then ran through the Otley line to score without a hand really touching him on his way with four minutes left to go in the half.

A 50:22 by Lymm was averted early in the second half but as Otley tried to clear for territory the wind again having a hand in proceedings giving the home side a line-out 20 metres from Otley’s line. After a long throw, Lymm’s pack went forward slowly before Morris dummied his way past two defenders setting up James Yates for Lymm’s third try.

Otley made it in Lymm’s 22 who were then penalised for being offside. Otley opted for a scrum some 10 metres from the line. The ball went left, and a high tackle gave Otley another scrum, but this time they were pushed off the ball, Lymm kicking the ball to the half-way line. Lymm had a brief spell in the Otley half before Eddie Crossland burst through to Lymm’s 22, evading tacklers to allow his teammates to catch up with him. After an Otley scrum Lymm were penalised in front of the posts for hands in the ruck, referee Michael Harris then marching them back 10 metres for dissent. Joe Rowntree made a quick five-metre dash for the line but was stopped by Jack Reynolds who hadn’t retreated behind the line and so he got a yellow. A pick and go saw Malthouse go for the line, the ball then going to Crossland who slipped through a tackle to score. Stead added the conversion to pass the 100-point mark for this season.

Otley were soon out of their half, Ryan Gibson nicking an overthrown Lymm line-out to keep the momentum going. Baxter was the target of a no-arms tackle and whilst play continued for a bit, the referee came back for the penalty. That attack faltered and after a scare at the other end of the pitch, Otley were soon back in the Lymm half. From a creaking scrum, Otley managed to get the ball away, Crossland’s pass to Sam Taylor on the right saw the winger run some 40 metres to get his sixteenth try of the season.

With five minutes left Stead got his second conversion, but the rest of the game was played in the Otley half. It finally ended when Otley gave away a penalty, Shard kicking the ball into touch as Lymm won 15-14.

Otley return to Cross Green when they ply promotion hopefuls Rotherham Titans, having narrowly lost to them 34-32 in the match at Clifton Lane. Kick-off is at 2:15pm.