Otley Town 0 Wetherby Athletic 2

IT was one of those days at Otley. To begin with the weather was horrendous with a rain laden gale blowing down the valley.

Second they were shorn of eight players through any number of reasons and consequently had to tackle the game with only one substitute.

Third – Wetherby are a decent outfit this season having benefitted player wise from the demise of Harrogate Railway Reserves.

So to have got anything out of the West Yorkshire League Premier Division game would have been a bonus for Town and with the weather causing chaos it might just have been possible to achieve this goal.

For long enough in the first half the only winner was the wind with the ball being off the field more often than on, but when in play Wetherby always looked to have that bit more quality on the ball than Town’s patched up squad.

Consequently they took the lead, deservedly, after 25 minutes when a fine through ball bisected Harry Higgins and Arran Smedley and the visitors were through on goal for a simple strike.

Town held their own for the rest of the first half and did pretty much the same in the second without actually being a goal threat where they were palpably missing the aggressive running power of leading scorer Harris.

Truth be told Town didn’t test the Wetherby keeper throughout the game and when the visitors scored their second – a fine goal in the last minute, albeit from a deflection, the game was up for Town.

This coming Saturday they are without a game but Town Reserves entertain Howden Clough in an Alliance Two encounter. (2.30).