GATESHEAD Thunder reached the Carnegie Challenge Cup quarter-finals this afternoon with a 34-16 victory over Oldham.

Playing at The Northern Echo Darlington Arena, Gateshead outscored their opponents by six tries to three in the first professional rugby league match to be played in County Durham.

They will now be hoping for a plum draw against Super League opposition when the quarter-final draw takes place tomorrow afternoon.

With new head coach Steve McCormack taking charge of team affairs for the first time, Thunder fell behind in the 13th minute when Oldham blind side Tommy Goulden broke two tackles to cross from 20 yards.

Andy Ballard made it 6-0 with the conversion, but Gateshead reduced the arrears when persistent pressure close to the Oldham line enabled Michael Knowles to score.

With Knowles failing to convert his own try, Thunder trailed 6-4 at the break following a tight first half.

The second period was a different story, however, with Gateshead running in four tries in the opening 19 minutes to establish a 28-6 lead.

Luke Branighan burrowed over from close range to score the first, before replacement Matt Barron beat two Oldham defenders on a slaloming 20-yard run to cross for Thunder's third score.

Full-back Stewart Sanderson rounded off a fine passing move to extend Gateshead's lead, and the tie looked to be over as a contest when Ben McAlpine ran in a 30-yard intercept try shortly before the hour mark.

Oldham rallied, though, scoring two quick tries of their own through Danny Halliwell and Dave Allen to reduce Gateshead's lead to 28-16 with quarter-of-an-hour to play.

Another Oldham score at that stage would have set up a tight finale, but Gateshead cemented their last-eight spot with a second breakaway score with seven minutes left.

Branighan intercepted a loose Oldham pass on the halfway line, and ran in unopposed to claim his second try.

Man-of-the-match Andrew Henderson the kicked a long-range penalty to round off the scoring.

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