SALE FC secured their first win in more than a month with a 22-16 victory over Otley on a windy and bitterly cold afternoon at Heywood Road.

Despite the benefit of the elements in the first half it was a tentative start by both sides in the opening exchanges but when Sale secured possession 20 metres from their try line, a fine clearance kick from Ciaran Connolly finally rolled into touch midway inside the Otley 22.

Sale maintained the pressure and from a scrum close to the line quick ball and neat handling saw Tom Davenport put in a reverse pass to John O’Donnell to score the opening try converted by Liam McGovern.

The hosts were having the better of the play with Otley guilty of turning possession over far too easily, but Sale could not capitalise on the opportunities that arose.

The home side extended their lead to 10-0 on the stroke of half time with a McGovern penalty after the visitors were penalised for interfering with play.

During the break Otley substituted five of their starting line up in an effort to get into the match and it seemed to pay dividends when eight minutes into the half they produced quick ball for stand-off Neil Chivers to race in from close range to halve Sale’s lead.

It stayed that way until the hour mark when McGovern put a penalty kick into touch inside the Otley 22 and with Sale securing the resultant line-out, a 14-man rolling maul put Rhys Davies over the line to regain their 10-point lead.

Ten minutes later, a fine break from inside the Sale half saw Adam Aigbokhae, Tom Ailes, and Matt Postlethwaite combine well to take play deep into the Otley 22 from where Davenport finished off the move with a try and McGovern had no problems with the conversion.

In the closing minutes a break from just inside Sale territory saw Otley’s James Wood race in for a try which still left the hosts with a nine-point lead.

It was left to Joshua Cruise to kick a penalty with the last play of the game to secure a losing bonus point for the Yorkshiremen.