OTLEY continue to pile the pressure on Aire-Wharfe Division 1 league leaders Saltaire after defeating third placed Beckwithshaw at the weekend.

With seven fixtures left, Otley remain 32 points adrift off Saltaire in second and for the most part- they know that they must continue to plug away.

Saltaire have gone the majority of the season unbeaten, however two recent defeats, including one against Otley have given the second placed side a glimmer of hope.

Otley themselves suffered a shock defeat against Addingham a fortnight ago after going on a six-game winning streak in the league, however the victory against Beckwithshaw has put them in good stead going into this week's tie with Bilton.

And captain, George Huntley, stated the importance of his side pushing on.

He said: "It was a vital and great win against Beckwithshaw at the weekend to give us any chance of winning the title.

"We are still 30 points off Saltaire so all we can do is keep winning and hope they slip up.

"I think the victory will give us confidence going into the remaining seven fixtures. There is no reason why we can't go on another run now and put a good set of results together.

"Beckwithshaw are still in touching distance of us too, so the victory added extra importance. It's only six points between us and them so it was vital we won to remain on the heels of Saltaire and to pull away from Beckwithshaw."

Huntley added: "We still believe we can catch Saltaire but the only issue we have is that it's out of our hands.

"All we can do is win our games but if they win all theirs then that's it isn't it.

"We have to keep picking up as many points as we can to keep the pressure on them and so that they know we are not going away or giving up on the fight.

"We were slightly under-par against Addingham a couple of weeks ago but we bounced back in the best style.

"All the lads contributed well and I couldn't have asked for much more with key men missing."

Otley face Bilton this weekend who currently sit sixth in the Aire-Wharfe table after convincingly beating Olicanian in the previous round of fixtures but Huntley is in good spirits about this weekend's game.

He said: "We are very confident going into this weekend.

"The confidence is high within the group and we have a few players back for the game this weekend so there will undoubtedly be a few selection headaches which is always good to have.

"They've obviously been on a good run themselves previously but have slipped up a few times in recent weeks.

"We will have to be wary of them but we are very confident we can get the job done.

"They do have an excellent bowling attack-especially with their opening bowlers.

"I think we will have to see off the new ball and build from there.

"Thankfully we have everybody available this weekend so it's a very good position to be in going into a fixture like this."