Panthers cruise into the fourth round with Whitehaven romp
Halifax Panthers romped to a comprehensive 32-4 victory over Whitehaven in the third round of the Betfred Challenge Cup.
It didn’t take long for Fax to open the scoring at The Shay with Joe Keyes going over for the first of his two tries after only three minutes following great work by the Ben’s - Kavanagh and Crooks.
Three minutes later and they were over again with Louis Jouffret finding a gap before the lead was extended even further when Greg Eden played in Crooks.
And, by the halfway point of the first half, it was 22-0 and game over as Keyes got his second, mainly courtesy of a great dummy.
The visitors responded and pulled a try back before the half time hooter thanks to Curtis Teare.
And they defended well throughout the second half to stall Fax until two tries in the final five minutes added gloss to the scoreline.
Eden again was the creator for Crooks before Gareth Widdop, on his home debut, produced a superb kick for the returning James Saltonstall to collect magnificently, stay in the field of play and power over.
With Fax’s hopes of competing in the latter stages of the 1895 Cup - which they won last year - left hanging by a thread, this victory was important in ensuring another competitive outing before their league campaign begins against Dewsbury Rams on Sunday, March 17.
Panthers will take on Southern Conference champions Hammersmith Hills Hoists at The Shay in the fourth round.
Fax boss Liam Finn said: “I was definitely pleased with the result.
"I was delighted with the first 25 minutes and then happy with the defence for the rest of the game, albeit we weren’t tested as much as Whitehaven would have wanted to test us.
"They will test us further down the line. But it was a good defensive workout due to our own ill discipline and ball control.
“All the damage, barring a couple of tries at the end, was done in the first half. But every team has a dip in any game.
"The conditions changed after 30 minutes when there was a downpour and we didn’t adjust our game.
“We were feeling confident and had gone well up until then. We then struggled to get the control back in our game.”