NELSON cruised through to the first round of the FA Vase with a six goal thrashing of Castleton Gabriels on Friday night.

The Blues took the lead after only seven minutes when Dave Gray saw Mark Canning save his header on the line, but he followed it up to score with the rebound.

Castleton were in no mood to roll over having enjoyed some good form recently, but they had no answer to the probing runs of Gray.

And on the half hour Gray doubled Nelson's lead with a perfect glancing header from Craig Bradshaw's cross.

Just before half time, Robbie Smith had a chance to make it 3-0 when he won a penalty for a foul inside the box, but Canning made a great save to keep out the spot kick.

Two minutes after the interval, Jason Jones grabbed a third for Nelson when he outpaced the home defence and shot low and hard past Canning.

And after 70 minutes, Matthew Barnes got Nelson's fourth goal with a great solo run past three defenders before adding a great finish.

Eight minutes later Robbie Smith made it 5-0 when he met a Neil Chapman corner with a looping shot, which deflected off a defender.

And four minutes from the end Chapman completed the scoring when he fired home following a good run and cross by Gray.