AFTER a fracas on the pitch and verbal abuse of the referee, Saturday's Old Otliensians' game at Ossett was again abandoned and the visitor's were awarded a 16-14 win.

It was the second time this season that a fixture between these two teams had to abandoned after failing light and a badly injured player in the 57th minute gave the referee enough justification to decide a replay was the better option in the match earlier this season.

If that game had have reached the 60th minute, RFU rules dictate, an abandonment at that stage would be classed as full-time, with the scores standing.

Luckily for Otliensians, with six-point deficit, the game was deemed null and void.

Sadly, the gentlemanly conduct that followed the abandoned game was short lived and the rematch witnessed too many penalties to count.

On such a small pitch, the direction of play changed with almost each phase of the game; one tactical kick and play was in the danger zone for either team.

'Ensian's fly-half Will Cooper adopted this as part of his game plan early on, and pinned the home side in their 22 from the onset.

The first real hope for the tourists came when Ossett tried to clear the kicked through ball.

Second row Jay Walsh charged the ball down with hopes of an early score, but the home backs gathered the ball and made good yards back into the opposition’s half.

At the next opportunity, Cooper again kicked deep into Ossett’s half. This time the home side's attempt at running the ball faltered and resulted in easy penalty for Luke Cowdell to slot between the posts.

This was the start of many penalty infringements from both sides, Ossett making their intentions known by opting to kick for the corner several times, instead of going for goal.

Within minutes of the first points, 'Ensians had an opportunity to increase the lead after an Ossett player was penalised for not rolling away. Cowdell, making it look easy, increased the lead to 6-0.

From the restart, Nathan Jones made a super break up the left wing but Ossett's outside centre made a dangerous high tackle. After the penalty, 'Ensians slowly worked their way up the centre of the pitch.

Otley’s forwards showed their mettle driving the home side's pack from 10 metres out, back over their own try line.

Captain Sam Featherstone finished the move off with the touch down. Cowdell’s successful conversion took the lead to 13-0 early in the game.

After 20 minutes, Ossett had their first chance. They took advantage of two penalties and worked their way into a good attacking position 10m out from 'Ensian's try line,

Luckily for the visitors, Cooper's tackling was second to none, and when Ossett’s big centre set his sights on the line, he was driven back to the 22 by Cooper's powerful driving tackle.

Ossett then attacked via their elusive scrum-half but he lost control of the ball on the visitor's try line, again thanks to a Cooper tackle.

Ossett kept up the pressure and were eventually rewarded by a try in the left corner for their inside centre. A successful conversion took the score to 13-7 at half-time.

Ossett came out in the second half like a different team, forcing mistakes to give them the advantage.

A nice phase of play in the middle of the field resulted in Ossett’s full-back carving his was through to score a well-deserved try in the corner.

The conversion, on such a small pitch, was no problem for Ossett’s stand-off.

In the 50th minute, Otliensians’ hopes of regaining the lead were quashed when Cowdell’s attempt at goal drifted inches to the left of the posts.

Luckily for the visitors, within minutes another opportunity arose after Ossett’s scrum broke down under pressure.

This time Cowdell was back on form, taking the score to 16-14.

Unwilling to accept defeat, Ossett’s scrum-half decided to take charge of play with a quick tap penalty following an offside infringement.

The No 9 managed to get the home side in a great position, with a line-out only yards from the try line.

However, Ossett's outside centre decided take out his frustrations on 'Ensian's right wing, resulting in a fracas and the referee penalised both teams accordingly.

That should have been that, but one of the home side's supporters abused the referee, causing him to blow full-time.

With the clock at 63 minutes, the score was recorded, despite the abandonment.