Otley 20 Fylde RFC 24: Battling win preserves perfect away record

They did so, despite being outscored by three tries to two, as Danny Cassidy landed five kicks from six.

It was Otley’s Joseph Potter who opened the scoring on five minutes, giving them a 3-0 lead after Fylde conceded a penalty 30 yards out.

Fylde were then guilty of jumping out of the defensive line in the backs, allowing Otley to make a deep break before good defence held them up over the line.

Otley threatened again, only for Ben Turner to intercept and race 60 yards to score with Cassidy’s conversion leaving Fylde perhaps fortunate to lead 7-3.

With Fylde struggling for fluency and Otley finding it hard to put together imposing patterns of play, both teams gave away runs of penalties.

Potter missed a kick at goal before Fylde turned over possession, culminating in Freddie Ziegler scoring out wide.

That put Otley 8-7 in front before Cassidy knocked over a penalty to give Fylde a 10-8 lead at the break.

Both sides’ struggle to impose themselves continued in the second half, though Cassidy’s penalty put Fylde 13-8 ahead on 48 minutes.

Fylde then had their best spell and scored again, though it initially stemmed from them missing touch with another penalty.

Otley returned the ball with interest before conceding another penalty, which saw Gabe Maguire take a quick tap before finding the supporting Will Hunt.

His huge miss pass found Turner, who took the ball close to the Otley line before popping it as he was tackled and Matt Ashcroft scored a try which saw Fylde lead 18-8 after 51 minutes.

Two minutes later, a kick out of defence by Fylde invited Otley to attack and they made their passes stick in putting over Charlie Culf for an unconverted try.

Otley then pressured Fylde into more penalties, kicking for touch and setting up an effective catch-and-drive which gave Corey McCormack their third try.

Daniel Reed’s fine conversion saw Otley back in front at 20-18 before they turned over possession and gave away penalties, the second of which saw Scott Irvine yellow-carded.

After turning down two penalty opportunities, Fylde elected to kick a third with Cassidy putting them 21-20 in front on 75 minutes.

Otley had another chance but could not maintain possession, Cassidy putting away Turner before the hosts were deemed guilty of foul play and Ziegler also saw yellow.

Another penalty followed, which Cassidy successfully kicked to leave Otley requiring a try to retake the lead.

Needing to gather the kick-off and see out the game, Fylde won possession before losing it and conceding a penalty.

Desperate defence kept out Otley, but at the cost of numerous penalties, before Greg Morgan tapped the ball back to Fylde, who hoofed it out and breathed a mighty sigh of relief.

Otley: Raubitschek, Sarsfield, Derry (Ziegler 15), Holmes, Parnell, Potter (Reed 57), Beanland, Irvine (Culf 30, Malthouse 79), Freeman, Warren-Lambert, Malthouse (Irvine 61), A McCormack, Baxter (Greenald 30, Baxter 59), C McCormack, (Howard 30, C McCormack 57), Mudd.

Fylde RFC: Turner, Lanigan, Clayton, Cassidy, Macaulay (Forster 32), Hunt, Maguire, Fairbrother, Harrison, Quinn (Ashcroft 49), Greenwood, Walton (Morgan 64), King (Rudkin 25), Sutcliffe (Trippier 64), Trippier (Altham 25, King 61).