Otley Town Res 0 Horbury Town 0 (aet)

Otley won 3-2 on penalties

OTLEY held their nerve in a penalty shoot-out to clinch their place the West Yorkshire League Trophy final.

They will now face the winners of Tuesday's tie between Field Reserves and Beeston St Anthony's Reserves at Shelley on May 3.

Damian Rushworth, who had missed a spot kick during the game, goalkeeper Andy Doey and Jevan Stones netted their penalties as Town edged the shoot-out 3-2.

For Town it is a welcome boost after a season of struggles in Alliance Division One.

The semi-final was played under floodlights at Knaresborough Town's Manse Lane ground.

Horbury were on top and had most of the possession in the first half but Town showed plenty of spirit and endeavour.

Once the nerves had settled Town gradually came into the game and had a period of sustained pressure without actually creating a chance.

The main incident of the opening half came just before the break. A fairly innocuous long punt forward from a Horbury player caught the Town defence napping meaning goalkeeper Andy Doey having to race off his line, eventually fouling the advancing Horbury player and conceding a penalty.

To the delight of the huge Town following, the Horbury penalty taker blasted wide.

Otley began to exert some intense pressure on the Horbury defence in the second half and after 60 minutes they were awarded a penalty when centre forward Kallum Kirk was upended.

This time, it was the Horbury crowd celebrating as a weak penalty from Damian Rushworth was saved by Alex Thompson in the Horbury goal.

Further clear cut chances came and went for Otley as the game went into extra time.

Town continued their domination of the game but as was the resounding story of the night, couldn’t get the ball in the back of the net.

Full back Darren Graham was Town's man of the match while Rushworth, Doey and Stones will be remembered for their penalty heroics.