IT was hardly the prettiest of victories for the Giants.

But there were few complaints after Huddersfield had finally seen off the challenge of brave Halifax and taken their place in the fifth round of the Challenge Cup.

There's no question the torrential rain and heavy Shay surface prevented the Super League Giants from playing the sort of expansive rugby that has proved so effective so far this season.

However, their National League I hosts should also take some of the credit for giving it their best shot and making sure it wasn't all plain sailing for coach Jon Sharp's side.

Even though Halifax lacked the services of 10 first-team players, they made the visitors battle for every single point.

They even had the audacity to take the lead after five minutes with a penalty from Dean Lawford after the first of many worrying calls from referee Ronnie Laughton.

Yet from the moment, stand-in stand-off James Evans and centre Michael De Vere combined to send Mat Gardner over for the opening try after 13 minutes, there was only going to be one winner.

The more the tie progressed, the more the likes of Robbie Paul and Brad Drew began to take control.

And there was also another big game from the ever-improving Andy Raleigh.

The Huddersfield-born forward once again came off the bench to give his side a timely boost, and it was great to see him crashing over the line for his first try for the club after 25 minutes.

A typical darting Drew run made it all possible, giving Raleigh the chance to score by the posts for De Vere to add the second of his six conversions.

At 12-2, any thoughts of a Cup shock were being firmly knocked on the head.

And that was re-inforced at the break as the Giants doubled their tally to 24-2.

Try No3 came on the half hour, and is guaranteed to go down as a real collectors' item.

Halifax were awarded a scrum 40m from their line.

But with a massive push from the Huddersfield forwards, the Fax pack was knocked backwards.

Paul was able to pick up at the feet of his grounded teammates and carried on their good work by brushing past the cover and racing away to score under the posts.

Then, two minutes before the break, a lovely reverse pass from Drew just inside the Halifax half sent Raleigh bursting clear and last season's National League I Player of the Year showed great pace to beat the cover to finish off.

But full credit to the way the home side responded.

Within eight minutes of the restart, they finally breached the Giants tryline.

A lovely reverse grubber by Joel Penny on the sixth tackle was kicked ahead by lively substitute Dominic Brambani, who pounced on the ball to score.

He also added the conversion and it was 24-8.

Yet apart from two very late Halifax half-breaks, the rest of the game belonged to the Giants.

In the final 30 minutes, they crossed for three more scores, blew a couple of others and twice Eorl Crabtree was harshly denied by referee Laughton.

The first time, the alert Crabtree collected a loose ball after Halifax had knocked-on and had a clear run to the line.

But the match official blew the whistle and brought play back and gave the Giants the scrum!

Then Drew's perfectly-timed pass sent the on-rushing prop charging clear to score - only for the try to be ruled out for a forward pass.

Crabtree did, however, have the last laugh in the 70th minute when he latched on to a spilt ball from former Giants Academy prop Johnny Simpson and dived over from close range.

That was sandwiched between a well-taken effort from Martin Aspinwall and late score from Stephen Wild, both with Paul playing key roles, to seal a victory that never really looked in doubt.

* Flyers coaches to Salford on Friday will leave from the St Patrick's Centre at 6.15pm.

Tickets are available from Tony Iredale Travel.