Otliensians return to winning ways with victory at Baildon

OTLIENSIANS returned to winning ways with victory over long-time rivals Baildon at Jenny Lane.

They had the advantage of playing down the slope with the benefit of the breeze in the first half and they soon went ahead.

Connor Bateman landed a penalty from 40 metres as Otliensians made a bright start to the game.

They had a try disallowed for a forward pass before suffering two injury setbacks. Centre Luke Cowdell left the field in the 14th minute with a hamstring injury while skipper Nathan Rogers suffered a nasty shoulder injury two minutes later.

Otliensians didn't let the setbacks trouble them. Hooker Jim Dyson won a couple of strikes against the head and Ali Campbell secured some good line-out ball which enabled Kristian Keinhorst to peg the home side back.

Passing errors prevented Otliensians from turning pressure into points and Baildon began to create pressure of their own.

Good work by Ross Nichols and Lee O'Donnell kept them at bay and turnover ball saw winger Declan Jackson breakaway from deep in his own half to score a try under the posts which Bateman converted.

Even better was to follow when Oliver Eaves gave Jackson a great ball 75 metres out and again he raced away to score an unconverted try to establish a 15-0 half-time lead.

Baildon made a bright start to the second half as they set about reducing the deficit. Two penalty goals in the first five minutes gave them heart.

Otliensians were being attacked continuously but they held firm and responded with a neat backs move which produced a try for Bateman.

Baildon were in no mood to throw in the towel. They mounted a spell of pressure but were kept at bay with Oliver Eaves producing a couple of fine clearance kicks.

Lee O’Donnell and Rob Arbuckle went close to scoring for Otliensians but the final try of the game went to Baildon.

They camped on the visitors' line and with the last move of the game crashed over for a converted try to gain a losing bonus point.