If one were seeking a role model for the entire Wessex League it might be appropriate to start at the very bottom.

Loss of personnel put Yateley Green in an impossible position for their trip to high-riding Otterbourne, with the result that they were forced to pack their team with youngsters not yet ready for this level.

It would have been easier to simply give up but "Giving up" is not a phrase in the vocabulary of these people. Instead, they chivvy and encourage each other and fight for every ball even when trailing by a sizable score and, in short, are a credit to the league.

Yateley's defeats are getting smaller - they've even secured a win or two - and at the halfway stage of Saturday's encounter it seemed that they might claim a major scalp. Otters needed to be at their most dynamic in the second period to turn the game around.

Yateley Green didn't begin well, and keeper Ben Roberts was soon in action, saving at the feet of Danny Keyworth. Five minutes in, Gareth Mead opened the scoring with a crisp finish following good work from Jamie Nash.

The visitors soon hit back, however, as Mike Unwin was played in twice in a matter of minutes. First, he fired straight at Otters keeper Duncan Farmery, but it was second time lucky when his shot flew into the net for the equaliser.

Pete Kelly cut through the visitors' back line, but Roberts turned his effort over the crossbar. Otterbourne stepped up a gear in the second half. Nash found Steve Trott cleverly but, on collecting a return pass, screwed the ball wide from a couple of feet out. The hosts won a penalty when Nash was tripped, but Trott directed his spot kick into the goalkeeper's dive.

Trott made amends shortly after with a precise finish after Danny Edwards had won possession and fed the lively Mead. With Mead and the tough-tackling Rob Fox in fine form, Otterbourne took complete control and almost increased their lead when Nash struck an upright. Top scorer James Bedford then scored a hat-trick in eighteen minutes. First, he lashed home as Edwards headed down a Trott corner, then he converted Kelly's free kick with a looping header.

He completed his treble by slotting home a penalty when a defender was harshly adjudged to have handled on the goal line in a somewhat involuntary manner.

Kelly completed the scoring in injury time with a shot which cannoned in off a post following good work from Stu Munro.