WHARFEDALE captain Oli Cicognini admitted after their 42-28 National League Two North victory over Otley at The Avenue: We owed them one, we owed ourselves one.

The Green Machine had been beaten 44-31 at Cross Green on September 28, but, apart from the beginning of the first half and the last knockings on a grey afternoon in Grassington, Wharfedale were in the ascendancy and deserved their victory.

Cicognini said: “Credit to Otley here - when they were on the front foot they have some big boys and some good outside halves and dictated the play really well for the first five minutes, and also in the last 20 minutes when we have a habit of taking our foot off the gas.

“But we played some really great stuff and the forwards dominated, including Reece Ward on his first game back for the club. He had a positive impact on our scrum.

“The line-outs and scrums were really solid and gave us a platform to play off, and our backs were really clinical, so overall a really positive performance.

“It is always a great occasion when we play a Yorkshire derby, especially against Otley, who bring a lot of support, but the real driver was the game against them earlier in the season.

“Not only did we owe them one but we owed ourselves one as well, and, apart from patches, we delivered in bundles and I am really proud of the lads. It was a really good start to 2025.”

Ward apart, Cicognini also praised Jack Pinder “for his first-up tackles and always being a jackal threat” and Joe Fawcett “who was fantastic in the loose, though I was disappointed that he didn’t finish his break because he was probably the quickest player on the pitch”.

There were also raps for Jake Armstrong in the scrums and for fly half Robbie Davidson, who helped Cicognini marshall the troops.

Cicognini, who made some telling breaks down the middle and scored one of their six tries, laughed: “I made three too many breaks for my own good, but I was just benefiting from some really good lines of support from the other backs.”

Other Wharfedale tries came from Tom Beresford, Elliot Stockton, Harry Bullough, Oliver Riddiough and a penalty try, with Davidson adding five conversions.

Otley, who had Ryan Gibson sin-binned on the hour, replied with tries by Fin Warren-Lambert (2), Sam Taylor and Joe Rowntree to earn a bonus point, with Eddie Crossland tagging on four conversions.

It was Wharfedale’s first first XV game since their home derby win against Harrogate on December 21 due to the festive break and the bad weather (Otley hadn’t played since their loss to Leeds Tykes at Headingley on December 20) but Cicognini revealed: “We have been quite fortunate as we have had an indoor space at Upper Wharfedale School and have also been able to train (on the artificial pitch) at Keighley so we have built a bit of momentum.

“The lads are going to have enjoyed a few pints and some mince pies over the Christmas period, but in general they have looked after themselves really well.

“We made a conscious effort after the Tynedale match was called off last week to make a real effort to start well at home and we did.

“Now some of the lads who were injured have played well for the Foresters, who won 41-12 at Driffield, which is always a difficult place to go, and the Foresters back line would push ours pretty damn close.

“We have had 30-35 players at training on both Tuesday and Thursday, we are getting some bodies back and what happens at training influences our performances on Saturdays, and these are really exciting times.”

Looking forward to next Saturday’s match at 11th-placed Hull, Cicognini said: “Again we owe them one as we suffered our only home defeat of the season against them (34-24 on October 5).

“They surprisingly lost at Billingham (34-17 on Saturday) but we know that Hull at home is a difficult place to go and they will come out firing but we will be prepared.”

Wharfedale’s win over Otley kept them in fifth place, but they are now level on points with fourth-placed Fylde, while Otley, who earned a four-try bonus point, are a point above Hull in 10th.