Wetherby missed a golden opportunity of a victory at Otley after playing the opposition off the park in the first half only to lose there way in the second through poor discipline.

It was a great start by Wetherby with plenty of attractive rugby. They supported and offloaded well with Liam Hogan and Matthew Bartle involved. It was following another Liam Hogan break supported by Tom Edwards which put them into a position for Andy Trotman to kick a penalty and take a deserved lead. Otley replied shortly afterwards when they were awarded a penalty after the ball squirted out of the side of the scrum and Wetherby were rather strangely penalised .

Wetherby resumed playing good open football with Andy Trotman causing havoc from fullback and good running and interpassing the backs almost put Kaye in at the corner. A second drive in the corner was pushed into touch . It was all Wetherby now and they finally scored after Andy Trotman fielded a clearance kick and jinked his way to within yards of the home tryline where Gianluca Latissier took over and brilliantly passed out of the tackle to Andrew Trotman who dived in for a spectacular try.

It was from this point that Wetherby began to lose their way when Matthew Bartle was sin binned and the home team applied 10 minutes of sustained pressure which improved their confidence. The Reds defence was excellent .First Latissier stopped a seemingly certain try in the right and then Henry Morgan stopped another brilliantly on the left following an astute cross kick. Though the home side continued to dominate good wiork by the rapidly improving Tom Edwards kept The Reds in the game until half time.

On the resumption Wetherby returned to their attacking ways and were remiss in not converting 3 penalties which would have put them comfortably ahead. They did however score when the wily Nick Oates sold a dummy at the breakdown Tom Edwards was in support before Henry Morgan muscled his way over for a seemingly impossible score. Andrew Trotman converted and the Reds were ahead 15-3 but a few minutes later the home side’s centre replied with a converted try.

Wetherby’s situation went horribly wrong from now on and Otley levelled the score with another well taken try. The Reds kicked a penalty to regain the lead but then mayhem broke out and Wetherby lost 2 players sent off which allowed the home side to continue to attack and kick a late penalty to draw the game.

Wetherby should be disappointed with this result which they lost as a result of their indiscipline in the second half which cost them dearly.

Next week they meet Leeds Corinthians for a 2.15 kick off. It is also the annual Re-Union of Past Players to which all are invited.