Keighley Phoenix 1

Otley Town 4

With the wind at their backs and against a goalkeeper with an enormous kick, Town went behind to an early goal.

Former Guiseley AFC 'keeper Paul Linyard played in goal with Hartlepool last season and his size and agility saved Phoenix from an even bigger defeat this time.

Missing the injured Paul North, central defenders Tom Dixon and Terry Pearson coped well with the long ball and Otley settled to dominate with the passing game, which has brought them success.

After a period of hard midfield work, James Firth beat two defenders and crossed for Dean Wagstaff to tap in the equaliser.

The first 20 minutes of the second-half saw the Keighley goal under constant attack. Town were thwarted by the experience of Linyard until he was beaten by a well struck Lee Grice shot.

Keighley lost their way and began to kick anything that moved. The referee had a difficult time and brought out his yellow card. First to a Keighley forward then to James Firth who was unfortunate to be cautioned for the first time ever when he over-reached a tackle. Amazingly a series of bad tackles then went unchecked and the game became very messy.

Otley did well to keep their cool under intense provocation. The third goal came, when after a bad pass back by a Keighley defender, the goalkeeper was challenged on the edge of his area by Dominique Blair who somehow came away with the ball to run through and chip into the net.

Town turned on the pressure. Good simple inter-play between Graham Hutchinson, Joe Lunn and Richard Langhorn saw the ball played out to Hutchinson whose ball to Firth was neatly lobbed over the 'keeper.

With a minute left the referee sent off a Keighley forward who kicked Martin Abel. The player would not give the referee his name and the official blew his whistle to end the game. It was not until the referee approached the touchline that the spectators were informed that the game had been abandoned because of the incident.

l On Saturday, Town travel to Brighouse for a 2.30pm kick-off.

Roberttown 1

Otley Town Reserves 3

Otley Town Reserves continued their current run of form with a thoroughly deserved victory in this West Riding County, Challenge Trophy, first round match.

Otley eased their way into the game before going ahead through an inch perfect chip from Dale Gilmartin. This relaxed the Otley side and they dominated the rest of the half without really getting into top gear. Town doubled their lead on the stroke of half-time as Wolfenden drilled home.

Otley should have built on this but conceded a sloppy goal. However, despite being continually frustrated by the off-side trap, Town finally broke through and it was Gilmartin again, having his best game of the season, who ran through to score.

Otley Town A 4

Beckwithshaw Saints 2

Town's A team progressed in the League Medal with a deserved victory. The scoreline does not indicate the territorial advantage and domination Town had.

Beckwithshaw could not cope with the quick shift in play and two goals were scored in the first-half by Chris Alderson who went on to complete his first hat-trick.