A superb second-half hat-trick from scrum half Steve Illingworth secured West Bowling's place in round four of the GMB Union National Cup with a 42-6 triumph against Saddleworth.

The diminutive half back was on hand to collect his first try after 50 minutes before crossing again twice to send the visitors back across the Pennines well and truly beaten.

The first half had proved a different story with Saddleworth defending manfully to hold the Bowling attack to only 12 points. Hooker Ian Wormald and player-coach Glenn Barraclough were the try-scorers. Lee Innes converted both tries. Saddleworth's only reply was a penalty goal.

However, when centre Mark Dunning crossed within minutes of the restart it proved to be a sign of things to come. With Illingworth's clinical finishing and further tries by Innes and Danny Lang, Bowling ran out comfortable winners.

A second-half rally by Birkenshaw was not enough to prevent them being dispatched from the competition by Cumbrian side Kells, 23-14.

Birkenshaw took 40 minutes to get into the game by which time Kells had established an 11-0 lead. A spirited effort after the break, which saw centre John Turpin, winger Mark Houlden and full back Morten Robinson all cross for tries, seemed to have turned the tie, and with Matty Gowland kicking a goal, Birkenshaw looked set to take a firm grip of the game. However, it was Kells who stepped up a gear to book a place in the next round.

Robinson said: "The best team won on the day, they were by far the strongest team we've played this season."

Bradford Dudley Hill put in a tremendous performance against Conference Premier high-flyers Skirlaugh, just going down 16-8 in the competition.

Hill were unlucky to go in at half-time 12-0 in arrears having gifted Skirlaugh two tries from dropped balls, but Hill battled on and a break from Chris Robinson found his half back partner Ryan Dickinson in support who was just caught a metre from the line.

In the second half, Hill managed to reduce the arrears after 55 minutes when they kept the ball alive on the last tackle and a great pass from Liam Jarvis found Alex Dickinson, who fed James Haley and he crossed in the corner.

Hill then knocked on from a Skirlaugh kick down field and from the scrum they increased their lead to 16-4, but again Hill came back with man-of-the-match Richard Bingley making a great run down the left which set up the position for speedster Mark Ackroyd to go in at the corner.

After the game coach Chris Robinson was happy with his team's performance. He said: "We made three errors in our own 22 and they punished us for all three. Without that they never really caused us many problems. I thought we certainly didn't deserve to lose and our boys can hold their heads up high.

"Coming up with a performance like that against one of the best amateur teams in the game is testimony to how much we have improved as a team over the season and we can get better."

In the Pennine Premier Division, Queensbury missed the opportunity to go second when they were narrowly beaten 24-20 at Illingworth.

Bury struck first through tries from Trevor Stead and Lee Chapman but Illing-worth responded with three tries of their own to give them an 18-8 half-time lead.

Bury fought back in the second half with Stead scoring his second and Darren Brown also crossing. Tom Middleton converted both but it wasn't enough as Illingworth held on to secure two valuable points.

In Division One, Clayton collected two welcome points beating Rotherham 24-6.

Clayton had to keep their discipline at times as the home side attempted to knock them out of their stride. All the hard work was done in the first half to leave Clayton leading 16-6. With their strong-arm tactics having little effect, Rotherham found the going tough and it was Clayton who came away with a well-deserved win. Danny Murgatroyd and Craig Pickthall were to the fore, both picking up tries, while Mark Schofield kicked four goals.

In an exciting encounter, Victoria Rangers were beaten 20-16 with a last-gasp try by Keighley Albion. Vics played some good football in the first half which saw Tony Fretwell and Kieron McDermott scoring tries for the home side. John Beanland added a goal. Keighley hung on and at half-time the honours were even at 10-10

A second-half try from Nick Walker, converted by Beanland gave them the lead but right at the death Keighley scored by the posts to snatch victory.

West Bowling A had a resounding 30-4 win at Keighley Town.

In Division Two, league leaders Odsal Sedburgh had a thumping 38-10 win at Calder Valley. Sedburgh had too much firepower for their opponents and extended their lead at the top to two points.

Queensbury A were beaten at home 30-14 by title-chasing Todmorden. Neil Hodgson, Andrew Barraclough and Steven Senior collected a try a piece with Steve Gallagher adding a goal.

In Division Six, Thornton hammered local rivals Clayton A 76-12. Clayton's youngsters were no match for the experienced Thornton outfit who had a field day with Mark Gay and Paul Kubanski scoring hat-tricks. Guy Dunn picked up a try and kicked ten goals.

Silsden Park Rangers got their league season back on track with a convincing 54-6 win at under- strength 12-man Keighley Albion. After Gary Preston had opened the scoring for Albion, Rangers ran amok with tries by Paul Fryers (2), Andy Bowness, Neil Jordan, Mark Adams, Martyn Fryers, Alan Preston, Chris Sutcliffe and Mark Ives.