Radcliffe Borough U15s 0 Walney Island U15s 4

WALNEY Island reached the quarter-finals of the Lancashire FA Cup on the back of a thumping second-half display at Radcliffe.

The Islanders made it through to the last eight for the second season in succession, despite arriving at Close Park to find the referee had made himself unavailable only 45 mins before kick-off.

Fortunately for both teams, a local referee was drafted in, and after a delayed kick-off, the visitors started brightly.

Harvey Irvine, Callum Leech and Nathan Ducie caused problems for the home team, and it seemed like only a matter of time before Walney would make the breakthrough.

But Radcliffe gradually came into the game and began to show why they sit second in the Bolton, Bury and District Football League.

They passed directly, swiftly and with precision and ease, making Walney's defence work to keep them at bay.

The hosts became frustrated at Island's physical play and solid defence, with Luke Broadbent, Pat Cush and Lewis Atkinson's terrier-like tackling not going unnoticed.

Taylor Gill started to show his class, riding several missed tackles and starting to shoot from distance, while Ryan Wilson and Rio Corkill caused problems for the Radcliffe defence with their speed and strength.

The match became a passionate affair, with several yellow cards produced, and as half-time approached another couple of half-chances were dealt with by the home team, and it was goalless at half-time.

Radcliffe started the second half brightly, and Walney keeper Rory Hampton was called into action.

Borough carried were stretching Walney, but the Island defence was a thorn in the home team's side.

Gill then went on one of his mazy runs, and after outpacing several Radcliffe players, shot from 25 yards to beat the keeper, clip the post and score to make it 1-0 slightly against the run of play.

Walney went on the attack again, and Ducie and Corkill combined well to provide Gill with the ball once more. He shot from 30 yards to score a brilliant goal and double the margin.

Borough's heads started to drop, and ill-discipline crept in, to Walney's advantage.

The ball was pumped forward from Islandy's resolute back-line to find Gill, who came within inches of scoring his hat-trick after chipping the keeper. It then became a race to the ball, with Wilson just beating Radcliffe’s defender to the ball and heading in number three.

With 10 minutes remaining, Walney just had to see the game out.

With the clock nearing full-time, the ball was passed to Corkill by the impressive, hard-working Leech, before he was fouled just inside the penalty area.

The referee pointed to the spot, with Corkill obliging and sending the ball into the back of the net.

The scoreline may not have been a true reflection of the game, but nevertheless this was a very impressive victory for the Walney side.

They will be joined in the quarter-final draws by Barrow and District League fellows Vickerstown Under-16s, who were handed a walkover as Charnock Richard could not raise a team to travel to South Cumbria.