WEST Bowling have gone “above and beyond” to make it through to the third round of the Coral Challenge Cup.

That’s according to boss Ryan Hunkin, who expressed his joy after his side beat Ovenden 38-18 to advance in the historic competition and book a third-round tie at League One Hunslet.

Ovenden reside in the Pennine League and before Saturday had lost only one game in two years.

But Bowling put them to the sword on the Halifax side’s own patch.

Hunkin said: “I’m delighted. We just use it as a pre-season friendly and getting ready for that first league game, but we’ve gone above and beyond.

“I think we’ve been a bit lucky with the draw, but we’ve certainly took our chances and performed quite well in both games.

He added: “We’re really happy with the win at Ovenden, breaking their habit of winning - it becomes a thing that they’re used to and we knew it wouldn’t be an easy game and it certainly wasn’t.

“It was a physical game, and after a slow start we picked it up again.”

Ovenden actually went ahead early on, when full-back Graham Charlesworth bagged a try to make it 4-0 on 10 minutes.

But Hunkin said going behind never really troubled him.

He said: “We just needed to settle down. We’ve played two games now in the new year and we haven’t started well in both.

“Our discipline was really good this time, so we just needed to correct some shape defensively.”

It took Bowling eight minutes to respond to the setback, with Jay Paynter touching the ball down and a follow-up Harry Williams conversion taking the visitors into the lead by six points to four.

This sparked a flurry of activity from the Bradford side, as both Dan Gregory and substitute forward Chris Watson bagged tries, making it 18-4.

Ovenden provided some semblance of a comeback after a try at the end of the half, with the score sat at 18-8 going into the break.

Hunkin said: “I was a bit worried how we’d handle the hill in the second half - there is a little bit of a dip on one side and it’s not a very big pitch.

“But, we played the hill better than they did and that ultimately got us the win because we just ran away with it early doors in the second half.”

Bowling were 38-14 ahead in the 75th minute, with a late Ovenden try for Shaun Smith providing some form of consolation, as the game ended 38-18.

Danny Halmshaw was given man of the match and his efforts were applauded by Hunkin.

He said: “He’s an aggressive, skilful, smart competitor. He competes for the full 80 and we’re very lucky to have him.”

Hunkin also heaped praise on youngster Harry Williams, who performed well in the first round as well. The coach said: “He’s thirsty for knowledge and wanting to improve his own game.”

“His kicking game’s exceptional, his organising is exceptional, and defensively he’s pretty sound.”