Henley's hopes of earning a dream Tetley's Bitter Cup tie away to mighty Leicester died when Otley's James Lofthouse kicked a penalty goal five minutes from the end to earn his side a thrilling 26-24 victory in Saturday's third round tie.

The lead changed hands no fewer than six times as Otley outscored the Hawks by three tries to two.

Their three tries came after exerting pressure on the visitors' line and squeezing over after valiant defence could do no more to keep them out.

Two of these went to wily scrum half Andy Brown, who was swept over in a maul shortly after half-time, when the Hawks were a man short with Trevor Walsh in the sin bin.

Flanker Phil Griffin had scored in the first half.

In contrast, both the Hawks tries were the result of fine individual efforts, Walsh slicing through the Otley defence without a hand being laid on him.

The second came from Duncan Roke, who seized a loose ball 45 metres out close to touch and raced between two Otley players to score under the posts.

Although Matt Jones' reliable kicking - five out of seven place kicks - kept the Hawks in the game, they paid the penalty for persistent infringements which kept them under pressure.

After Lofthouse's final penalty, Hawks nearly rescued the game at the death.

Winger Tom Holloway collected a wayward kick and started a movement which ended about 30 metres from the Otley line when a scoring pass to him from Roke was adjudged forward.