Otley maintained their unbeaten 2016 Cross Green winning run with a determined and gritty win against Preston Grasshoppers.

Otley had a very simple game plan, with the heavy pitch and swirling wind aiding them, to kick to the corners and try and make it a set piece game, although our line-out was a little wonky. The visitors held their own in the scrum and were solid on their own ball in the line-out, but they did struggle against us in the driving maul.

The home side were under pressure for the first quarter. Hoppers’ winger Scott Jordan was tackled just short of the line and the danger was averted, Preston came back with a well organised rolling maul which resulted in a penalty. Sean Taylor missed this but was successful ten minutes into the game with a second attempt.

Using the wind to our advantage, Stephen Depledge kicked the ball towards the scoreboard corner and two forwards ran after it. In the resultant melee the ball goes into touch. After that an Otley penalty set up a five-metre line-out where, after a second penalty, the forwards drove Declan Dunn over with the ball into the corner.

In the second half Otley came out full of running. A good run by Michael Coady down the grandstand touchline put the ball close to the corner post. However, conditions were not good and the ball was knocked on. Five minutes in, as the forwards attacked from a line-out, Michael Coady came onto a great pass from James White to slice and dice the Preston defence through to the posts, Stephen Depledge converting.

Five minutes later Hoppers got back within a score after a good line-out drive got them in range and after a couple of good surges they saw the space on the short side and Jack Walker powered his way over the line. However, on the hour Josh Cruise was given a simple penalty when Mark Murray was yellow-carded for tripping, which he took with ease.

The last quarter saw both sides try to score, either to make the game safe or to secure a draw but to no avail. There was a lot of endeavour and some skill as two evenly matched sides tried to find a way through. However once the 80 minutes were over, Neil Chivers did the sensible thing and kicked the ball into touch.

This link is to photographs taken by John Ashton. Thank you John for taking them