They travelled to the second-placed team well aware of the tough task ahead.

They showed resilience and determination throughout the match, but ultimately could not match Darlington's prowess.

The game began with Darlington Mowden Park (DMP) immediately putting the pressure on Otley, pinning them back into their own half.

Otley managed to push into the opposition's half after five minutes, but were soon defending again.

Despite their defensive efforts, DMP conceded a penalty, but the attack fell through when Otley were caught offside.

The first score of the match came from DMP's scrum-half, Reuben Dyer, who weaved his way to the line after a dummy to open the scoring.

Otley's defensive efforts delayed Darlington's second score for another 10 minutes.

This came after Otley inadvertently ran in front of each other outside their 22, having pushed DMP back off their line.

The ball was kicked into the left-hand corner, and despite Otley's attempts to halt the maul, fly-half Ewan Greenlaw scored and converted.

Otley had a chance to respond immediately after the restart, winning a penalty which went into the corner, but the ball was stripped from the attacker after the line-out and kicked into touch.

DMP regained possession and ran from their 10-metre line to within five, with replacement Joeli Varo pouncing on the ball over the line.

Otley went down to 14 men just before the end of the half due to a head-on-head contact, and DMP capitalised on this, with Charlie Turnbull touching down and Greenlaw converting, taking the score to 24-0 at the break.

The second half saw a positive start from Otley, pressing the DMP line hard until they lost possession.

Otley fended off the opposition's forward pressure but were unable to prevent Bruno Brown from rushing through close to the posts, with Greenlaw adding another two points.

DMP extended their lead on the hour mark with an attack down the right-hand flank, with Max Paver the scorer.

Otley managed to claw back some points with a 50:22 down the right just creeping in, leading to a penalty that got them within six of the line.

The pack pushed hard and eventually made it over, with Tom Howard the scorer and Alex Jones slotting the conversion from out wide.

The final 15 minutes saw Otley primarily in Park's half.

A DMP line-out was overthrown on the halfway line, which Otley took and then took play to the other side of the pitch, getting a scrum on the 22.

However, they gave away a scrum penalty.

A penalty on the DMP 10-metre line and from five metres out launched another attack, with Chris Jackson touching down on the line, the conversion attempt just going the wrong side of the left-hand post.

Despite the loss, Otley showed determination and grit throughout the match.

They will be looking to bounce back when they face another tough fixture against third-placed Tynedale at Cross Green on Saturday, with the game kicking off at 2:00pm.