Queensbury reached the final of the Jack Senior Memorial Bradford Cup following a hard-fought encounter against Premier rivals Birkenshaw at Hill Top.

Birkenshaw took first use of the slope on a heavy field and attacked straight from the off.

Stand off Andy Hirst caused panic in the home defence with a high bomb which was scrambled out of play and scrum half Johnny Turpin burrowed his way clear only to trip up and lose the ball with the try line begging.

Bury weathered the storm but when they at last gained a foothold in visiting territory they strayed offside at the scrum.

Hirst reacted quickly and took a quick tap penalty. He charged 80 metres down field leaving a stunned defence in his wake to plant the ball under the uprights. Wing man Matt Honeysett kicked the easy conversion for a 6-0 lead. Queensbury had a chance to open their account when Birky were penalised for not being square at the play-the-ball but scrum half Tom Middleton fired wide.

He quickly made amends however when he was given a further opportunity after the visitors were caught using the elbow in the tackle.

With two minutes left in the half Birkenshaw suffered a huge blow when playmaker Hirst had to leave the fray with an injured ankle but they managed to hold on and changed ends 6-2 up.

Birky hooker Ryan Bostock was aggrieved on the restart when he was taken out by Middleton in an off-the-ball incident which was unfortunately missed by referee Bob Ingham.

He decided to take matters into his own hands shortly afterwards and Middleton kicked the penalty after he had been punched.

The hosts continued to look lively and centre Trevor Stead put his side in front with another cracking try right out of the top drawer.

He brushed off three defenders on the halfway line and set off on a thrilling touchline run.

He wrong-footed full back Sean Barnes with a clever change of pace and dived over in the corner. Middleton kicked the difficult conversion to put Bury in the driving seat 10-6.

Birkenshaw substitute Dave Burton was severely warned following a bout of fisticuffs but his side made one last valiant effort and set siege to the home line for four sets of six.

Wingman Darren Brown was taken out by a head-high tackle with just minutes to go

But Bury declined the easy penalty chance and tactically played out field position to clinch a berth in the Odsal show peace final.