Chuter left satisfied at his five-star high-flyers

Otley ...................... 15pts Hinckley .............. 38pts

GEORGE Chuter hailed the resolve of his Hinckley players after they fought to victory at a battling Otley.

The visitors ran in five tries as they remain second in the division and keep up the pressure on leaders Stourbridge, while Otley only have Sheffield and Wharfedale below them in the division.

Hinckley rarely looked troubled, despite having struggled at this ground in the past, and Chuter was satisfied with his side’s resolute display.

“It is always a tough place to come to, and last year Otley won at Cross Green,” he explained.

“It was good to get five points here, and while there are areas we need to work on, I was really pleased with the way the lads stuck to their task.”

The hosts had the majority of the territory for the first ten minutes, but could not take advantage of their possession.

As the visitors came into the game, led by Gareth Turner, an Otley kick upfield was picked up by Callum Dacey.

From his own half, Dacey ran through to score, giving Joe Glover an easy conversion.

Otley responded straight away when Hinckley failed to gather the kick-off and then collapsed the scrum. Joe Rowntree stepped up to score, although this penalty was cancelled out by a Hinckley three-pointer shortly after.

The visitors extended their lead two minutes later when Samuel Driver set up Mitchell Lamb to cross close to the posts, Dacey converting this time.

The next quarter saw both sides have chances but not being able to convert them into points.

It was not until the final minutes of the half when Driver ran around the Otley defence from 25 metres, and Glover’s conversion made the half-time score 3-24.

Otley got a try on 50 minutes following pressure on both sides of the Hinckley line, Nick Coupland putting the returning Tom O’Donnell over in the corner.

Following a switched kick at the restart to change the emphasis of the visitors’ attack, Hinckley laid siege to Otley’s defence and they eventually found the gap they needed, Luke Coltman going over to secure the bonus point for the visitors.

Hinckley continued to assert their dominance, pushing the normally resilient Otley pack backwards, and their persistence was rewarded when Tom Wheatcroft cut through the home defence to dot down.

For the last 15 minutes Otley rallied to try and get something out of the game, and having got into their 22 they did manage to stretch Hinckley, but the ball was eventually ripped from their grasp and the attack came to nothing.

In the final moments, a run by Christian Pollock down the left-hand side gave the home side the chance they needed.

From a lineout a few metres out, they rumbled on and Hinckley could only stop it by pulling it down, referee David Charlton awarding a penalty try as the home side salvaged some pride.