Cleethorpes Town stormed to a 7-3 victory in the Challenge Cup, sweeping aside a hapless Skegness Town at the Stamford Club in a match sponsored by Linden Homes and BJB Lift Trucks.

Ricky Belding grabbed a brace in the first half for the Owls, before Phil Cawley, Jonathan Oglesby and Paul Goodhand sent the Owls into half time with a 5-1 lead.

An unlikely comeback looked to be on the cards early in the second half when the Lilywhites pulled another two goals back, but a second neat finish from Oglesby made sure of the win before Luke Neul finished off the scoring.

Manager Andy Liddle handed a Cleethorpes Town debut to right back Tommy Wright who had signed at start of the season but not yet figured so far in the campaign.

Elsewhere, Miles Fenty became the third different goalkeeper to be used in the last three Owls matches and the duo of Phil Cawley and Jonathan Oglesby were restored to the starting eleven.

Cleethorpes started brightly and found themselves 2-0 up by the time ten minutes had passed.

First, Ricky Belding finished well after a through ball which dissected the away side’s defence, before firing in a second just a minute later after good work from Neul down the right hand side.

With Clee well on top, it took a mistake to allow Skegness back into the game.

Under pressure, Goodhand, playing in the centre of the Owls midfield, tried to loft the ball back to his own goalkeeper, but Adam Broom intercepted and was given plenty of time to beat Fenty and pull a goal back.

However the two-goal lead was restored eight mintues later when Belding outpaced the flat-footed Skegness defence on the right flank before giving Cawley the chance to tap into an open goal to make it 3-1.

Cleethorpes were continuing to apply pressure in the final third and, following the Lilywhites struggle to clear after a goalmouth scramble, Oglesby curled a magnificent fourth into the top left hand corner of Emery’s goal.

The cup tie looked all but over on the stroke of half-time when the ever-dangerous Neul was brought down in the penalty area. Goodhand stepped up to slot home a fifth and the home side went into half time 5-1 up.

Skegness Town though were not to go down without a fight, with Mark Thompson scoring their second nine minutes into the second period.

And when Broom was taken down by Fenty, who escaped further punishment, Lee Orrey scored the resulting penalty to set up what could have been a nervy last half an hour for Cleethorpes.

The home side came through though, Oglesby jinking in off his wing and guiding the ball into the far corner from a tough angle to make it 6-3.

The winger was in the thick of the action again in the 78th minute when his precise through-ball was collected by Neul who was left with a simple finish and his initial shot struck the left-hand post.

Cleethorpes Town return to league fixtures in midweek after a fortnight’s break – starting with a trip to Nettleham on Wednesday night.