Kells and Wath Brow Hornets will be flying the flag for Cumbria after reaching the third round of the Challenge Cup.

Distington, Egremont Rangers and Millom were knocked out in this weekend’s second round fixtures, with Kells and Wath Brow picking up home wins over Underbank Rangers and Oulton Raiders.

Peter Smith’s Kells side beat Underbank 42-6 with forwards David Lowery and Scott Lofthouse each crossing the line twice.

In Cleator Moor, both Ryan Amor and Peter Caddy scored braces with Wath Brow winning 30-4.

Kells were made to work for their win as they lead just 12-6 at half-time.

Dom Wear helped put the home side ahead after sending Lofthouse over but the visiting Underbank side drew level soon after.

Connor Hetherington, playing at hooker was at the heart of both Kells’ tries in the first half and sent Lofthouse over for his second try with a delayed pass.

It was all Kells in the second half as Tony Burns kicked an early penalty to put his side 14-6 up with Lowery crossing for his first to put daylight between the two teams.

Lowery followed it up with his second and Paul Cullnean made it four tries in two games as he crashed through three defenders after picking the ball up from dummy-half.

Kells’ performance was marred by the sending off of Tyrone Dalton who appeared to kick an Underbank man on the floor after Cullnean’s try.

Despite the numbers disadvantage, Kells crossed the line twice more, first through Lewis Wilson and then through Burns after taking a great offload from Cullnean.

Against Oulton, Wath Brow went into the break 12-4 up after tries from Caddy and Amor.

Amor scored his second shortly after the start of the second half and Fran King crossed the line to put his side 20-4 ahead.

Caddy crossed the line again and Luke Davison wrapped up the scoring to send the Hornets through to the third round of the cup.

Distington, competing in their first ever Challenge Cup were beaten 28-10 by York Acorn.

The Cumbrians trailed 8-4 at half-time but their opponents kicked on in the second half to secure their third consecutive third round appearance.

Egremont were knocked out by fellow National Conference League Premier Division side Rochdale Mayfield.

The Rangers were ahead until a late Rochdale try put the visitors 24-20 ahead.

Millom were also beaten 46-12 at home by Pilkington Recs, leaving Kells and Wath Brow as the only Cumbrian sides in the hat for Tuesday night’s third round draw.

Teams from Kingstone Press League One will enter the next stage and last season Wath Brow hosted Newcastle Thunder and Kells welcomed Rochdale Hornets in the third round.