John Kear's love affair with the Carnegie Challenge Cup continued as his Wakefield side booked themselves a first semi-final appearance for 29 years with a win over Oldham.

Kear's men, who are as unfashionable and as unfancied as the Sheffield and Hull teams that he led to cup glory in 1998 and 2005 respectively, overcame a poor start to eventually stamp their authority over their National League Two opponents with nine tries.

As a result the five-time winners are now just 80 minutes away from a first final appearance since their 12-3 defeat to Widnes in 1979, whilst their coach is closing in on becoming the first man to guide three different sides to Challenge Cup success.

They did not have things all their own way though and found themselves trailing early on as Oldham opened the scoring in the 10th minute with a 60-metre breakaway try from winger Lucas Onyango after an error from Duncan MacGillivray.

The forward's slip-up was typical of Wakefield's start as they enjoyed plenty of possession but repeatedly put the ball down and it was only after a knock-on from Onyango with 20 minutes gone that they were able to compose their attack and open their account.

Sam Obst was the creator, shuffling across the Oldham line before firing a pass into the chest of Sean Gleeson who reached out to score. Danny Brough - a winner with Hull and Kear three years ago - failed with the conversion.

Brough created a second try for his side three minutes later though, sliding a kick in for Damien Blanch to touch down in the corner, although he again failed to convert.

Wakefield were still labouring to gain any real control though, with prop Richard Moore guilty of throwing away possession twice when well-set, but Oliver Wilkes and Gleeson made sure of a more comfortable half-time for their team-mates as they added two late tries, the first of which came after a neat pass from Brough who converted both.

Despite their late flourish in the first half, Wakefield continued to fail to find cohesion at the start of the second but still added a further try, with Brad Drew overpowering his part-time opponents from close range.

Oldham - who last won the cup in 1927 - remained dogged in their approach with hooker Simeon Hoyle impressive as was former Wigan scrum-half James Coyle, although neither could stop Jamie Rooney racing 60 metres to score after an outstanding offload from Oldham-born Danny Sculthorpe.

The floodgates were now open and Brough nipped in for a try of his own off Tony Martin's pass, with Rooney notching a messy second for himself as he bundled over from close to the line.

Martin then grabbed a try of his own to complete the scoring as Oldham's fitness levels began to catch up with them.