WHARFEDALE.............8

OTLIENSIANS............23

Otliensians deservedly won this semi-final of the Aire-Wharfe Cup and go on to meet Bramley Phoenix on their own ground at Chaffers Field, Pool Road, Otley, tonight, Thursday (6.45 pm).

Otliensians won by two goals, two drop goals and a penalty to a try and a penalty.

In perfect conditions at Grassington Otliensians opened strongly with their pack and scrum-half Peter Gillson dominating the first 15 minutes, pressurising Wharfedale in their half.

When the home side did cross the half-way line they were soon penn- ed back by some fine touch kicking from Dave Smith.

After 18 minutes Otliensians achieved penetration following typical forward dominance in the tight and a heel against the head.

Several forwards drove in turn at the Dale line and it was Tony Twist whose determination eventually took him over for a power try and Will Haines added the conversion.

Wharfedale immediately came back with some fluent back play and a nice chip into the corner to put pressure on the Otliensians' line. Prepal Bachra, playing his first game of the season for the first team at stand-off, brought off a superb tackle to kill the threat.

On 25 minutes player-coach Hugh Gumbs scored a fine try under the posts for Otliensians following a great break by Gillson. Haines duly converted.

Wharfedale fought back and came more into the game as half-time approached. Mark Stevens, who had been doing valiant work round the fringes, suffered a severe knock to the head and was replaced by Brett Tenniswood.

Otliensians changed their line up on the throw ins which had probably been their only weak department and there was immediate benefit from Tenniswood's presence.

At half-time Otliensians led 14-0.

Wharfedale came out after the break looking to avenge their first-half deficit and immediately put the visitors line under pressure. This pressure led to a penalty in front of the posts, for not releasing, and an easy three points.

Otliensians then almost added to their score through Ady Fawell when the centre following up a kick ahead at speed almost got the touchdown, the ball going dead before he could reach it.

The visitors were grafting to a man, typified by Andy Walton who was getting through an enormous amount of work cover tackling and backing up well.

Twelve minutes into the second-half Otliensians' pressure led to a penalty for off-side and Haines made no mistake with the kick to restore the 14 point lead.

They went further ahead following quick tight possession when Gumbs with his options closed down seized the opportunity to drop a fine goal.

This did not make Wharfedale heads drop however and they seemed to come back with a renewed vigour and some fine open play pressing the visitors' defence into some excellent tackling, in particular by Gumbs, Bachra and David Smith.

This defence held firm until the 33rd minute of the half. The Wharfedale scrum-half made a superb break with a weaving run from his own 22 to just short of the line where he was stopped seemingly impossibly by a Brett Tenniswood cover tackle. This led to the ball being re-cycled quickly and Wharfedale going over wide out on the left.

The kick failed but Wharfedale had narrowed the gap to 8-20 and were looking dangerous every time they got possession and tension mounted.

There were several huge tackles at this stage, three notably by Tony Collins, that stemmed the Wharfdedale attacks until the last act of the game when David Smith capped an excellent night with a fine drop goal.

This was an heroic performance by Otliensians against an always threatening young Wharfedale side. One facet of Otliensians' play which typified their resoluteness was their determination to turn and protect the ball invariably in the tackle and thereby retain possession.

Two players who had mammoth games were Peter Gillson and skipper Richard Smith, who tackled and drove like a lion.

Above all this was a team performance with everybody working for each other to achieve a well deserved and hard-fought win and a place in the final.

Bramley Phoenix beat Bradford Salem 34-12 in the other semi-final which means that whatever the outcome of the final a new name will appeare on the trophy this year. Both finalists have reached the final once before but have lost, Old Otliensians to Otley in 1992 and Phoenix to Yarnbury in 1997 prior to their merger with Bramley.

Otliensians team for the final will be - D Smith; W Haines, H Gumbs, C Bawden, A Fawell; P Bachra, P Gillson; A Twist, R Paley, C Baldwin, R L Smith, R H Smith, A Walton, M Stevens, D Roberts. Repl. M Payne, D Hardie, B Tenniswood, S Coates, A Hayward, L Stenton.