Otley nearly beat their Lancashire rivals Fylde and whilst this was no classic, it was a committed and closely fought affair, due to dogged defence and both teams making too many errors and struggling for fluency and accuracy. Otley made Fylde fight all the way, and showed plenty of character and spirit, and no doubt will rue their missed chances and penalty count.

Otley kicked off and almost immediately conceded a penalty for a high tackle. Nevertheless they kept Fylde penned in their own half until they knocked-on giving Otley the chance to attack again. They did, and after five minutes Fylde conceded a penalty just outside the 22 allowing Joe Potter to open the scoring with his successful kick.

Fylde did make it into the Otley 22 although a stalwart defence thwarted the visitors’ ambitions. From a scrum, Otley made their way upfield with Tom Parnell’s run seeing him get within five metres of the line. The ball was then moved across the posts and after a couple of attempts to cross the line, Fylde were able to hold Otley up. Again, Otley threatened only for Ben Turner to intercept and race from his 22 to score under the posts against the run of play. Danny Cassidy knocked over the conversion and Fylde were fortunate to be 7-3 up.

Three minutes later Otley had the chance to reduce the deficit with a long-range penalty attempt, but the kick fell short. Straight afterwards they had another opportunity from virtually the same spot but went for the scoreboard corner but lost possession a few moves later.

Aided by a penalty, Fylde made it to the Otley 22 where they mounted a 17-phase move in an attempt to score but were again met by the Otley wall. It ended when a loose pass was nearly picked up by an Otley player giving the visitors a scrum. Their attack finally broke down when Ben Raubitschek took the ball in his 22 before kicking it on in the opposition 22. In their exuberance to score, Otley gave away a penalty. The kick didn’t find touch and Otley moved the ball across the pitch with Fylde then infringing.

An exchange of scrum penalties saw Fylde take play to their 10 metre line. From the line-out they moved the ball across the pitch but lost sight of the ball at the breakdown. Jacob Holmes was more alert. He took possession, ran a few metres before passing to ex-Zebra Freddie Ziegler who sprinted his way to the line for a debut try with six minutes left.

After another spate of penalties in the Otley half, Cassidy was successful from the 10 metre line in front of the posts to take the score to 8-10 and wind up the half.

Both sides struggled to impose themselves giving it feel of a tense and tight battle. Cassidy got a penalty in the Otley 22 on 48 minutes to stretch their lead. The home side got to within six metres, but conceded a penalty at the breakdown. Having conceded another penalty, Gabe Maquire took a quick tap and Fylde swiftly moved towards the clubhouse corner. Ben Turner took the ball very close to the Otley line before popping it up to an oncoming Matt Ashcroft who scored in the corner, much to the disbelief of the home supporters.

Two minutes later a kick out of defence by Fylde saw Raubitschek bring the ball back along the opposition 22, where Otley were able to move the game forward with Ant McCormack setting up Jonny Freeman to go around the Fylde defence passing to Charlie Culf for an unconverted try.

After a failed drop-goal attempt, Fylde had a five metre line out but were forced back and penalised at the next breakdown allowing Otley to clear their lines and break out, a forward pass being picked up by the opposition in their half who kicked for touch. Otley pressured Fylde into more penalties, kicked for touch and set up an effective catch and drive with backs coming in to assist, Corey McCormack going over for Otley’s third try. Dan Reed slotted the conversion and Otley were back in front at 20-18 with 15 minutes to go.

Having regathered the restart Otley made another break down the left, double-bluffing the chance to pass, but were tackled from behind before the ball could be eventually passed and then giving a penalty away outside the 22. The Fylde tap-and-go went wide and Fylde went down their left flank, Otley conceding another penalty.

Fylde went for the corner rather than the points, Otley regaining possession but taking it over the line. From the scrum Fylde launched another attack which went to the side-line and back, eventually getting another penalty with Scott Irvine shown a yellow card. This time Cassidy went for the posts to give Fylde a one point lead on 75 minutes.

Cassidy returned the ball in a broken midfield and put Ben Turner away. The cover defence negated the try scoring chance but Ziegler’s no arms tackle was yellow carded. Fylde kicked for the corner, bringing the ball in front of the posts from the line-out, where they got another penalty, Otley scrambling to regain possession. Cassidy put the kick over and the game restarted with less than a minute to go.

Having regathered the restart, Fylde held on too long. Reed kicked for the cemetery corner with Fylde infringing in the line. The next kick got Otley closer and they moved to the other side of the posts where Holmes was held up over the line, but they had a penalty in their pocket. It wasn’t third time lucky, Greg Morgan’s jump saw him tap the ball back into the dead ball area before it was hoofed out.