AMATEURS Pilkington Recs take on semi-professionals London Skolars at Ruskin Drive this Saturday in the third round of rugby league's Challenge Cup.

The red,amber and blacks have had some famous encounters down the years in the competition. This gallery shows a selection of archives pictures while Alex Service looks back on some close encounters along the way.

Pics courtesy SH Local History Library

PILKS’ desire to beat professional opponents over the years has never slackened and the club has experienced some marvellous "nearly-but-not-quite" moments along the way!

Yet what is not generally realised, is that the old St Helens Recs played in the first-ever Challenge Cup competition, in 1897. They progressed to the second round, courtesy of a ‘bye’ and fell to Rochdale Hornets [0-8] at the Recreation Ground.

Shortly afterwards, the club abandoned rugby and went over to football!

When the amateur Pilkington Recreation club was formed in 1949, it would be another twelve years before they would participate against professional opposition, in the First round in 1961. Pilks travelled to Hull KR and found themselves overcome by 56-8 to a Rovers’ side who clearly made the most of their home advantage.

In 1972, Pilks qualified for the First Round once again [by beating Millom!] and were drawn away to Bramley, at Barley Mow. The Yorkshiremen won 19-5, but the visitors managed to put up stiff resistance for the eighty minutes. At hooker for Pilks was the veteran former Saints’ hooker Bob Dagnall.

Fast forward to 1977 and Pilks enjoyed a real ‘plum’ draw against Wigan in Round One. The match was played at Knowsley Road, when the Cherry and Whites stuttered to a 10-4 victory in front of a large, partisan crowd.

Scrum-half Billy Simmonds was the star for Pilks and the team’s performance was described by Chairman Roy Britch as “fantastic, terrific and unbelievable”.

Ironically, the next round paired Wigan with the Saints, at Central Park, who went on to win 9-4 before falling to Leeds in the semi-final stage.

Twelve months later, the Recs were once again involved in the First Round when Castleford came to Knowsley Road.

In one of the great see-saw clashes of the competition, Castleford came away with a one-point victory after the Recs had dominated much of the contest and led 20-13 at half-time.

Remember the long-distance try by Fenton that broke Pilks’ hearts? Hooker Jeff Gormley scored twice that day; Joey Hull and Syd Wright also got on the scoresheet, with Peter Glover kicking five goals.

1981 saw Pilks once again on a quest to ‘down’ professional opposition with York the guests at Knowsley Road. Although by no means as strong as Wigan or Castleford, the visitors managed a 7-18 success.

By 2009, Pilks had enjoyed continued success in North West counties rugby and drew Batley Bulldogs in the opening round, with the game once again scheduled for Knowsley Road on 8th March. It proved to be a gripping contest and looking back, Pilks were indeed unlucky not to break their duck against professional opposition. At half-time, the visitors led 18-22.

 It finished 24-34, with Batley hooker Kris Lythe sealing the contest with a 73rd minute try. Star man? Who else but Mark Ashton, who notched a marvellous hat-trick of touchdowns [30, 36, 49 minutes], as Recs’ mid-range attacking kicks caught Batley on the hop. Skipper Ste Rawsthorne was Man-of-the-match in a day to remember.

Incidentally, on the right wing for the visitors was Jermaine McGilvary, who was the stand-out player for England in the 2015 Test series against the Kiwis.

Recs’ last attempt at Challenge Cup glory came at the Racecourse Ground, Wrexham on 16th march 2014. Our opponents were North Wales Crusaders, who had one or two with Super League experience in their ranks, such as Stuart Reardon, Steve Bannister and Stephen Wilde.

The Recs were faced with a 36-4 deficit at half-time, but scored three tries after the break to bring some form of respectability to the contest.

There could have been more points for the visitors, but, at times, precision in attack was lacking. The majority of those players will be on show on saturday afternoon and will be keen to put on a good performance to see if they can create their own piece of history. You just never know!