Otley 8, Bedford 22

Otley's pack leader Howard Parr reckons that only quickness of mind separated the two sides in yesterday's fourth-round EDF Energy National Trophy clash.

"Up front, we had them - we certainly dominated the scrummage - and the line-outs were 50-50, where we made some wrong decisions in terms of the calls," said the 35-year-old.

The National League Two leaders took a swift lead, skipper Ian Shuttleworth kicking a first-minute penalty without the aid of the absent kicking tee.

But with Otley prop Kris Fullman in the sin bin for pulling down a maul, hooker Dan Richmond put the sixth-placed National League One visitors ahead three minutes later with a try which winger James Pritchard converted.

Then, with Fullman back on, Shuttleworth was sin-binned for a high tackle on Exeter scrum half Karl Dickson, and again Bedford took advantage.

An accurate cross-kick by fly half Ben Patston found Pritchard in space and he had the simple job of catching the ball and falling over the line, Pritchard again adding the extras.

A fine break by centre Paul Mooney gave Otley hope and they took advantage when Bedford flanker Nic Strauss was yellow-carded for pulling down a maul.

After steady pressure in Bedford's right-hand corner, Parr got a try but in first-half injury time Otley were caught flat-footed and left winger Alex Page scooted over for a five-pointer to put the Blues 19-8 ahead.

Home winger Stephen Parsons looked a likely scorer until a last-ditch tackle stopped him four minutes after the restart.

But the only points of the second half came when Parr was penalised for use of the elbow, Pritchard landing the 63rd-minute penalty.

Parr confessed: "The try just before half-time was a bit of a sucker punch. We had gone to sleep because we thought they were going to kick for goal.

"We just relaxed. That was a mental thing but the whole game was won and lost in the top two inches of our brains.

"It was speed of thought and reaction time but physically, and in terms of pace and power, we matched them.

"We were a bit naïve in the second half in trying to run the ball from our own 22 a couple of times, which was perhaps the wrong decision, and we got caught.

"They turned the ball over and we struggled. You shouldn't really be playing rugby in your own third of the field.

"You need to get the ball down their end of the pitch and put pressure on - but we didn't do it and that was tactically unsound."

Parr, also conscious of the effects of the sin-binnings on the outcome of this last-32 tie, added: "We say every week that we want to keep 15 players on the pitch and at this level if you lose a man you are going to pay for it, and we did. But likewise when they went down to 14 men we scored so that kind of evened itself out."

As for the side that Otley put out, Parr explained: "We were missing some players through injury but part of it was also tactical.

"We wanted to try out some of the younger players from the bench and they came on and gave a good performance, which will help with the future in mind."

As to where this performance ranked in terms of returning to National League One next season, Parr said: "It was a marker to see where we are. We are sitting on top of our league and we want to close that out and get back into Division One.

"With regards to where we are compared to Bedford, they are a middle-of-the-table National One side who have in the past been pushing for promotion.

"They have spent a lot of money but they have regressed slightly because teams like Exeter have overtaken them.

"We put in a good performance, which is a good indicator for next year, but we have to concentrate on the league and it is paramount for this club that we get out of this division this season."