ILKLEY Town are through to face Hunslet in the next round of the West Riding Challenge Cup after an emphatic 9-0 win over Palestino at Ben Rhydding Sports Club.

In a game the hosts dominated, Ilkley took the lead after 20 minutes as the returning Toby Harris hit a sensational 30-yard lob into the net.

The second followed just before half-time as Toby Harris' cross was spilled by the keeper allowing Nicc Hewitt to convert and make it 2-0.

From here Ilkley kicked into a higher gear and were awarded a penalty two minutes into the second half when Harris was barged off the ball.

His tackler, already on a yellow, walked off the pitch without a second yellow shown to the confusion of everybody, but when he then removed his shirt the referee had no choice but to show a second yellow and dismiss him.

Harris would keep a cool head however and pick out the bottom corner to make it 3-0.

Palestino were soon awarded their own spot-kick after Dan Chadwick was judged to have blocked an effort with his arm, but Tim Edney provided the heroics with a diving save to keep his clean sheet alive.

This proved the breaking point for Palestino, who lost all their shape allowing Ilkley to run riot.

First Richard Bull charged towards the box using his quick feet to weave through the defence and produce a classy finish into the corner.

Tom Fleming was next as he was found unmarked by Harris' low cross to make it five.

Harris then wrapped up his hat-trick with a powerful strike through the keeper's legs from a tight angle.

Matty Whitehead was brought off the bench and made an immediate impact for Ilkley scoring within eight minutes of his introduction, as Joe Hendrie cut the ball back from close range to leave Whitehead with a simple finish.

Whitehead grabbed his second four minutes later, dancing his way past the defence and chipping into the net, before Harris claimed his fourth to round off the resounding victory.

Ilkley manager Simon Armstrong said: "The positives are we won the game, scored nine goals and should have scored more. There were areas where we could improve, but the objective was to get through to the next round and we have achieved that.

"It's a competition we believe we can go a long way in, so like the district cup, the league cup and the West Yorkshire League itself, we want to win every game like we have done today."

Harris was pleased with his four-goal haul despite the competition being below what Ilkley had expected going into the game.

"I'm delighted," said Harris. "I said I wanted to get a few goals today so to get four is amazing but, the opposition weren't the best especially when they went down to ten men."

"I think it was tough for them today to keep their shape with the sending off.

"I'm happy for Tim keeping the clean sheet as well. I could have probably scored more than four which would have been good for my game to goals consistency."

This was Edney's second appearance in goal for Town after spending most of his time either in defence or up front in previous seasons, but based on his performance today, he may well become a more regular name on the teamsheet.

"It was my first chance to keep a clean sheet today and I thought it had gone after the penalty decision," said Edney. "I had to take a guess on where he was going to go with his body shape and I'm just so happy to have gone the right way.

"I've had a lot of injury setbacks and was told to change sports, perhaps go into cycling or swimming, but I've always played football on a Saturday that's what I want to do, so the natural progression for me was to change positions.

"I've played at centre-back, I've played up front, to be honest in nearly every position, so I know I can do it and I hope my performance today shows it."