Gee leads try spree as Panthers book their place in sixth round
Halifax Panthers booked their place in the sixth round of the Challenge Cup thanks to a 62-6 victory over York Acorn.
The Panthers ran in 11 tries, including a hat-trick for Matty Gee, as they made light work of their gutsy NCL opponents last Sunday.
Acorn began brightly at The Shay and went toe-to-toe with Fax until Eddie Prescott wassenttothesinbinafter15 minutes for a high tackle. And the hosts took full advantage with Gee breaking through a challenge to open the scoring.
They added a second shortly after with a flowing move to the left being finished by Ben Tibbs.
Back to a full compliment of players, York kept the home side out only until the 30th minute as Ben Kavanagh went over. Joe Keyes then produced a lovely dummy as Fax established a 22-0 lead on a very soggy pitch.
It only took the Panthers three minutes to extend their lead at the start of the second half thanks to Gee’s second of the afternoon after great work from Louis Jouffret and James Woodburn-Hall.
The second row forward was soon celebrating his treble, powering through a number of defenders to force himself over under the sticks.
That try seemed to open the floodgates, as a flurry of scores followed to propel Fax from 34-0 in the 62nd minute to 62-0 in the 74th.
Ryan Lannon, on his 150th career appearance, got the first of those five tries in that blistering 12-minute period, receiving a short ball from Jouffret to crash over.
Gee turned provider for the supporting Jouffret who dived over in between the sticks before converting his own try.
Hometown boy Gareth Widdop then showed his NRL class with a superb kick which was caught by Joe Keyes who did the rest before Zach McComb went over twice in quick succession to complete the scoring for Fax.
York, however, grabbed a consolation try through Anthony Chiltern who burst over from close range before converting his own score, resulting in pleasant applause from the home fans.
Fax’s head coach Liam
Finn told the club’s official media after the game: “Obviously happy to get the result first and foremost and happy with the performance in tough conditions.
"It was a professional performance and one off the back of a good week’s training.
“We handled it really well, we were really patient and we got rewarded at the back end of the game which was good.”
Elsewhere and after 40 minutes at the DCBL Stadium, it looked like Batley Bulldogs would not be in the last-16 draw as Widnes Vikings had established a handy 8-0 lead.
Joe Lyons put Widnes in front after only 15 minutes and former Batley man Tom Gilmore added the extras before extending the lead to 8-0 with a penalty before the halftime hooter.
But Batley finally responded in the 64th minute, Kieran Buchanan getting on the try sheet before Dave Gibbons turned the game on its head with only ten minutes remaining.
Batley got a third try in ten minutes thanks to Luke Cooper and they held on to win despite Nick Gregson’s late touchdown.