A rampant Batley Bulldogs ran in seven tries against Keighley Cougars to win 34-16 and easily secure their place in the last-16 of the Betfred Challenge Cup at the Fox’s Biscuits Stadium yesterday.

Cougars scored through Robbie Storey, Mark Ioane and Dan Parker but Batley ensured the win with Lucas Walshaw and Aidan McGowen both scoring twice, in addition to tries from Josh Hodson, Dale Morton and Jimmy Meadows.

The deserved win ensured Craig Lingard’s men are not only in the sixth round of the sport’s most famous competition – when the big boys of Super League enter – but they are now just 80 minutes away from the prospect of a first ever appearance at Wembley, having booked their place in the 1895 Cup semi-finals.

The Bulldogs are proving to be a nightmare for Keighley this season.

The sides last met in round four of the Championship, at the same venue, with Morton diving over on the very last play to secure a dramatic 28-23 victory,

But after Morton added to Hodson’s try for two scores right at the end of the first half at the weekend, the Bulldogs had finally stolen the momentum and cruised to victory in the second half.

There were no signs of the one-sided nature that eventually transpired in the tie, as both sides went set-for-set and traded early tries.

Walshaw went over for his first to open the scoring, powering over after a couple of errors from the visitors.

But Storey, who was also scored in that February classic, then levelled with a smart try in the corner.

But that was as good as it got for Rhys Lovegrove’s men.

Hodson, who had already scored 32 of Batley’s 140 points they had already notched in this season’s Challenge Cup in heavy scoring wins over Wath Brow and Hunslet ARLFC, made it nine tries in three knockout games when he darted in at the far corner.

Morton gave the Bulldogs a comfortable cushion at the break when he went over in similar fashion.

Batley well and truly took that momentum into the second half, scoring a further four tries to put the game out of sight.

A Morton interception on halfway appeared to be the trigger for that, although the winger could not get over the line on that occasion.

McGowen, however, did have success moments later, as he went over for the first of his two tries.

Hodson then split the Keighley defence in two with a bombarding run through the middle, which eventually resulted in Walshaw going over for his second.

Cougars were unable to stop their relentless opponents by this point, and Meadows showed creative invention to dive onto his own kick and score before McGowen got his brace.

Ioane and Parker grabbed late consolation tries to narrow the scoreboard slightly, but Batley, on the whole, proved too strong and head into this evening’s last-16 draw in high spirits.