Last updated at 21:23, Monday, 22 November 2010

WALNEY Central are through to the first round of the North West Counties Premiership Cup.

But they had an almighty scare in their preliminary round match as visitors Shevington Sharks fought back from 30-0 down to get within eight points of them at Central Drive.

Walney got off to a flying start, scoring straight from the kick-off, and they rattled up 30 unanswered points inside the first 50 minutes.

The visitors were a poor outfit up to this stage, but seemed to come to life after they had been reduced to 11 men, with one player sin-binned and one sent off.

Instead of conceding further points against a rampant Walney side, they sprung to life, scoring 22 points without reply, and also having a try disallowed in the closing stages.

The seconds were only clicking into gear on the clock when, from the kick-off, Brad Nichols gathered the ball and fed the impressive Dave Warne, who burst through the Shevington defence on halfway, and on his shoulder was Nichols to race over.

Dave Bell converted and the home side were on their way to victory.

Harry Gee was soon touching down, then Adam Nicholson, in his first game of the season, was crossing the whitewash. Bell added one goal and it was 16-0.

Two minutes from the break Nichols was touching down for his second try after some swift handling along the line. Bell tagged on the goal and at 22-0 to the good, Cents were coasting.

The second half was barely five minutes old when Nicholson grabbed his second of the afternoon, after fending off five Shevington players to ground in the corner.

Shevington were then reduced to 11 men on 50 minutes with centre Matt White sin-binned for an offence in the tackle, while prop forward Steve Dunn was sent for an early bath for abusive language to the match official.

Walney extended their lead with a try from Mark Bewley.

However, this was a wake-up call for the Wiganers as they put all emphasis on attack with tries coming from Alex Graham, Brad Wallace (2) and White, with three conversions from John Dunn.

Victory was in sight for the visitors and with eight minutes left on the clock Andy Harrison was held up over the line followed by Andy Moss being bundled into touch on the flag as he touched down. Shevington were then down to 11 men again as loose forward Ian Parkinson was dismissed for foul language to the referee.

And to round off a bad day for the visitors, former Wigan, Salford and Whitehaven heavyweight prop Neil Baynes was looking to take on allcomers as he approached the touchline because he was disgruntled after taking a knock in the face.

Dalton set up home tie with Hindpool in the Challenge Cup with victory over Pilkington Recs A 35-28 in St Helens. Dalton trailed 22-12 at the break, rallying in the second half scoring 23 points, with six in reply.

Danny Sayle was on top form with a brace of tries and seven goals, while other tries came from Matt Bolton, Paul Eva and Paul Rawlinson, plus a drop-goal from Andrew Nixon.

There was no joy for Barrow Island who lost to Bank Quay 42-12 at Rating Lane in the Presidents Cup.

The Premier Division leaders shot into a 18-0 lead after 15 minutes’ play, making it 6-30 at half-time.

Island’s Matt Parkinson crossed for a try to which he added the conversion.

Matt Jefferson added a second try 10 minutes from time with Parkinson converting.

Askam, without several regulars, bowed out of the Challenge Cup going down 32-14 at Fallowfield Park to NWC third division leaders Spring View.

Three clubs received walkovers into the next round. Games called off due to the visitors conceding the fixture, were Roose Pioneers versus Higginshaw, Hindpool versus Adlington and Ulverston against Burtonwood.

In the National Conference Division One Millom eased to a 20-6 win over bottom-of-the-table Eccles at Devonshire Road.

Tries for the Woollybacks came from Ritchie Donahue, Tom Sibley and Andrew Dawson with Matt Palmer 2, with Paul Evans adding goals.

lCumbria’s hopes of being crowned county champions at open age and under-19 level were dashed yesterday, with the open age side losing 32-4 to Yorkshire and the under-19s suffering a 28-20 defeat, also against Yorkshire.

First published at 13:06, Monday, 22 November 2010
Published by http://www.nwemail.co.uk