Dudley Hill 3

Otley Town 0

THIS venue has been far from a happy one for Otley Town and so it proved again as Town's three match unbeaten run was brought to an abrupt, and unceremonious, halt.

The real disappointment was the lack of character shown after two outstanding performances against better placed sides in Division One of the Muntaz West Riding County Amateur League.

The home side deserved their victory which moved them above their visitors who now lie in ninth place.

Although the end of season beckons here's to an improved performance this weekend when Town entertain second placed Littletown.

They were due to visit these opponents on April 21 but the bad weather caused a postponement. An earlier game in the League Cup saw Town defeated 4-2 so there's everything to play for. Kick-off is 2.30pm at the Old Showfield.

Stansfield U-16s 2

Otley T Juniors 3

In a somewhat disappointing game, Town overcame Stansfield Under-16s by three goals to two.

Influential goalkeeper Joe Sayers and midfielder Scott McCullow cried off through illness which left Town with no recognised 'keeper, Jimmy Hoskins going in nets for the first-half and Nik McCarthy for the second.

Town's defence protected their goalkeeper well in the opening exchanges and played the game in their opponents half. On six minutes Ben Schofield split the Stansfield defence to leave Justin Smallshaw one on one with the 'keeper who did well to lock the striker's efforts.

Town deservedly took the lead on 25 minutes when good work by Adam Cater down the left paved an opening for Alex Lister to prod the ball home. Two minutes later Stansfield drew level with their first shot of the game when their tall striker rose high in the air to head home from a corner. Town regained the lead on the stroke of half-time; Dean Wagstaffe centred for Smallshaw to curl in with his right foot from the edge of the box.

The second-half opened and Town continued to press with Ross Hutchison prominent in midfield. They increased their lead on 45 minutes with Adam Cater scoring from close range after good work by Lister.

Their lead should have been further increased a minute later with Cater putting over a good centre substitute Paul Wright cleverly dummied the opposition by letting the ball run between his legs for Lister, who saw his snap, first time shot fly agonisingly wide of the far post.

Instead, it was Stansfield who clawed a goal back when their striker outpaced Schofield to send an unstoppable shot past McCarthy. Town lost full-back Simon Johnston with a knee injury and were forced to play the last 15 minutes with 10 men, having used all their substitutes but the defence of Andrew Dixon, Lee Wilson and Schofield held firm and it was Stansfield who were on the back foot and praying for the final whistle with Town substitute Nick Smith going close to increasing his side's lead on two occasions.

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