The Otley scrumhalf looked doubly relieved as his “second bite of the cherry” sailed between the uprights - he had fluffed a harder but nonetheless very kickable attempt just five minutes earlier to secure the points in a tight fought encounter.

The reality for the Bees was that the seeds of their undoing had been sown in the first half, when the home side rarely got into their stride and conceded three tries in the process – two of them having a distinctly “soft” air about them.

On a glorious early autumn afternoon and in conditions perfect for expansive rugby, Otley had the better of the early exchanges, although a malfunctioning lineout did little to help the Portway men’s cause.

Bees’ fly half Adam Canning put a penalty attempt wide after 8 minutes, but atoned just two minutes later with a nearer range effort. If the Bees lineout was tentative, this was certainly not the case for the men in blue and the visitors certainly looked far more composed in this and other key areas of their game.

They were justly rewarded after 15 minutes when open side flanker Jamie Sutton dived over from near range, after a catch and drive from a 10 metre line out. Depledge opened his account with the conversion to give the men from Yorkshire a 3-7 advantage.

Camping right on the edge of the offside line, an aggressive Otley defensive set up continued to disrupt the Bee’s attacking rhythm, with the consequent pressure leading to a number of unforced errors. The visitors were far from fluent themselves but, relatively speaking, were operating as a more effective unit than their Midlands’ counterparts.

Depledge added to his points tally with a self converted try after 27 minutes, taking advantage of loose ball squirting out from a Bees scrum. A second Canning penalty pegged the score back to 6-12 and there was finally some signs that the Bees’ rolling maul – such a key component of their game last season – was beginning to gain a degree of traction.

Nascent home hopes were soon to be dashed though, when No.8 Jack Scott crossed the whitewash for Otley’s third try after some good back play out on the right wing. The conversion extended the score line to 6-19 on the 37-minute mark. However the Bees responded immediately with a near range try from captain Chris Goddard and, although Canning put the conversion wide, a half time score line of 11-19 was still somewhat flattering to the home side.

The Bees began the second half with a far greater degree of purpose than they had shown in the first and they were on the score sheet after 7 minutes with another try from second row and captain Chris Goddard, peeling of a rolling maul. A successful Canning conversion narrowed the gap to just one point at 18-19. Otley replied just two minutes later with a Depledge penalty to make it 18-22.

Like Otley, the Bees used the new rolling substitution laws to bring fresh legs in and out of the fray, although winger Dai Evans had already been on the pitch as a permanent replacement for Chris Fensome, who had limped off injured in the first half. Evans himself made an unscheduled return to the sidelines 30 minutes into the second half, when he received a yellow card for a tackle deemed to be spear-like by referee McGaffney.

Despite being down to 14 men, the Bees began to sniff a possible victory and when substitute lock Liam Dunne crashed over for a try with just two minutes of normal time on the clock to go, it looked as if the home side had yanked it out of the fire, although Canning was unable to add the extras at 23-22.

To their credit, the men from Otley refused to lie down and, attacking deep from their own half, successfully applied the pressure to yield two penalties deep into added time. Depledge held his nerve second time around to clinch the win and, with it, a four to one National League 2 North points haul to take on their journey back up north.

There will be no pressing of panic buttons yet but the Bees will be looking for a more emphatic performance over a full 80 minutes to put the disappointment of this narrow defeat behind them. They entertain Broadstreet from Coventry next Saturday, kick off 2pm at Portway.

Teams

Birmingham & Solihull – Chris Fensome, Alex O’Malley, Steve Johns, Rob Connolly, Jimmy Oliver, Adam Canning (2P, 1C), Rod Petty, Steve Leach, Darren Forder, Ashley Scriven, Chris Goddard © (2T), Matthew Spink, Nick Bingham, Will Crane and Peter Koziot. Replacements (all used) Lewis Grinsell, Andy Kettle, Liam Dunne (T), Dai Evans and Jack Jolly.

Otley – Arnold Ellison, Kristian Sharples, Jack Mackie, Michael Coady, Alex Beaumont, Ben Fairclough, Stephen Depledge (T,2P, 2C), Jack Scott (T), Jamie Sutton (T), Tom O’Donnell, Declan Dunn, Sam Cook, Adam Blades ©, Ben Steele and Jason Moss. Replacements (all used) – Mark Chivers, William Rigg, Stephen Costello, Ross Bannatyne and James White.

Referee Brendan McGaffney.