Workington Town weathered a storm from visiting amateurs West Bowling but did enough to reach the Challenge Cup fourth round with a 28-22 win at Derwent Park.

Wild conditions made life tricky for the hosts, and they welcomed a plucky team who pushed them all the way, but Chris Thorman’s side got the job done to earn their place in the next round where they will host Doncaster next Sunday.

A fast-paced start to the game saw the amateurs looking to hold their own but it took just five minutes for the home side’s class to tell.

Jamie Doran darted through the defence and tossed a short pass out wide to Alex Young, who had space to run into and skip over the whitewash to mark his home debut with a try.

Carl Forber stepped up and defied the high winds of Storm Dennis to kick the successful conversion for his 800th goal for the club.

Their lead was short-lived as West Bowling continued to make good yards and, after 11 minutes, Daniel Halmshaw got over at the third attempt for the visitors on the line.

Ben Heald missed the kick to keep Town ahead but it was an early warning that the home side might not have it all their own way.

The visitors were more than matching the League 1 side and Thorman acted as the half went on, introducing Fuifui Moimoi for Andrew Dawson after 25 minutes looking to spark some life into his team.

West Bowling continued to give as good as they got, with Town struggling to take advantage out wide as they had effectively for the opening try.

Just as Town looked to threaten at the right end of the pitch, an ill-advised pass from Forber was plucked out of the air by West Bowling to relieve the pressure.

It was not a classic half by any stretch of the imagination, and one not helped by the tricky conditions, but Town ended it on a high note as Forber seized the initiative and drove at the heart of the visitors' defence.

The stalwart weaved his way through the middle to open a lane for Caine Barnes, who reeled in a pass from his team-mate and strolled over to stretch his side's lead.

Once again Forber's conversion was successful and Town went into the break 12-4 ahead.

The wind seemed to very much be against Town at the start of the second half but it didn’t stop them from extending their lead to 14 points three minutes in as they capitalised on confusion in the away ranks to get close to the line where Hall dived over. The conversion was easy for Forber and Town led 18-4.

Five minutes later they were in again as Moimoi blasted up the middle of the pitch, broke a tackle and slipped a quick pass to Gabe Fell, who had open field ahead of him to stroll in for Town’s fourth try. Forber again added the extras.

But West Bowling weren’t quite down and out yet and they responded with a try of their own as a low kick bobbled through the Town line and Richard Lumb reacted quickest to dive on it. Heald added the extras after 52 minutes.

Town needed to keep their cool but before they could regroup West Bowling had closed the gap further three minutes later, with Oliver Bartle crashing over and Heald’s conversion successful to make it 24-16 to Town.

Moimoi came close to going over but was held up as Workington camped in their opposition’s half looking to stamp out any hopes of a cup shock but they couldn’t get over the line.

They stuck at it and, on 65 minutes, they did make the breakthrough with Russ Bolton burrowing his way over the line. Forber’s kick didn’t make it through the sticks.

West Bowling had looked a match for their hosts for much of the game and they ensured the pressure would be on in the dying minutes as Daniel Gregory charged in for a late try and Heald kicked the conversion to make it a six-point game with seven minutes to play.

In the end the away side ran out of time and Town got over the line to book their place in the fourth round on a day where they had not been at their best but, given the weather and the fact they had not played since the Barrow trip in pre-season, that was understandable.