IN awful conditions Otley Town picked up three more valuable points at the expense of bottom club Sherburn, and, in so doing, climbed to sixth in the table; just three points shy of the automatic promotion places.

It took Otley a full half an hour to get on the score sheet, and managers Suddes and Foster were far from happy at the way their players had applied themselves during this period.

Mark McGee opened the scoring for Town giving the home goalkeeper ‘the eyes’ before slotting home from Mitch Lambert-Tuthill’s slide rule pass. On 35 minutes Sherburn gifted Otley a second when two defenders left it for each other and returning captain Rick Parry said ‘thank you very much’ and headed in.

Given their position in the league Sherburn acquitted themselves pretty well in the first half and deservedly pulled a goal back from a corner right on the half time whistle.

For their feeble efforts the Otley team received a bit of a roasting over their half time refreshments and it seemed to do the trick.

Right from the restart Otley were quicker to the ball and much brighter all round. Parry and Lambert-Tuthill began to move the ball more quickly giving Parker-Wells, McGee and Hawkins the chance to get in behind the home defence.

The upshot being goals. First, from McGee with a poacher's goal at the far post and then a hat trick penalty after Andy Howland had cleverly drawn the foul right on the edge of the box. Howland completed the scoring for Otley with a cool finish when played in by Parry. Sherburn grabbed a consolation second with five to go.

This was not a vintage performance by Otley Town but in the end it was job done and at least the ref allowed the game to reach its conclusion in very poor conditions, 2-5 FT.

On Saturday, Town host Wetherby Athletic in Division One.