Xamax BARLA National Cup second round: Queensbury 0 Haydock 24 

QUEENSBURY, playing at their alternative home venue of Ovenden Park, failed to recover from a dreadful start as they exited at the second round of the Xamax BARLA National Cup 24-0 against Haydock.

Bury allowed the visitors' kick off to find touch, and when the ball was worked wide from the resulting scrum, Haydock full back Steve Jones left the cover standing with an electrifying burst of speed to reach the posts, leaving wingman Karl Dinsdale to slot over the extras.

The blue and whites refused to let their heads drop, however, and launched a series of stinging attacks, with kicks from stand-off Ethan Sharp and full back Jordan Brown narrowly failing to gain just reward.

But they had to resort to desperate defence when Dinsdale found himself on a 60-metre touchline dash, only to drop the ball with the line at his mercy as Brown made up ground.

Home prop Aaron Moore led the quest for the equaliser, but the well-drilled Haydock defence was unyielding, and they turned the tables once again when former Leigh professional Jones cut inside the cover to sprint in for his brace, leaving Dinsdale to add the conversion in off a post.

At 12-0, Bury were still very much in the hunt at the start of the second stanza but they suffered a crucial blow when Brown was sent to the sin bin when he interfered with a penalty award as the hour mark approached.

Haydock made sure of the extra pair of legs by flashing the ball from one side of the field to the other to send centre Chris Smith to the chalk before they also were reduced in numbers when wingman Dan Lee lashed out in the tackle.

Bury were unlucky to see a Tom Hart kick go narrowly dead in goal but as the heat of battle intensified, second row forward John Farr lost his cool to earn his habitual spell in the bin.

Haydock took the quick tap and run to put Jones over for his well-deserved hat-trick, but Bury refused to throw in the towel and nearly broke their duck on the final whistle when substitute forward Tom Leech failed to touch down his short kick by the width of his fingernails.