Batley Bulldogs under pressure after game management lets them down at Swinton Lions

Bulldogs remain three points clear of the relegation zone, but have dropped to fourth from bottom in the Betfred Championship table.

Reflecting on the defeat, Diskin said: “We were in control for 60 minutes of the game, then we went away from what had been working for us.

“It was really poor game-management – kicking out on the full, trying to force plays from our own 20-metre area.

“We gifted them field position; it was really dumb. We were the better team for the majority of it, we just had a brain explosion.

“We showed a real lack of rugby intelligence from 55-60 minutes onwards, gifting them field position time after time.”

Bulldogs have been targeting a top-eight finish and Diskin admitted the loss was a “massive” blow to that objective.

“It puts us in a position where we are in a bit of limbo really,” he conceded.

“We’ve got people hot on our heels and with two teams being relegated this year it puts us under a bit of pressure now.

“It’s our own fault because I genuinely don’t believe we should be where we are with the quality we’ve got, but poor game-management and the amount of errors we are making week-in, week-out has led to this position.

“We’ve got to start getting a bit more gritty about our performances.”

Niall Walker and Paul Brearley both picked up hamstring injuries and Diskin added: “Joe Taira, there was a really nasty crocodile-roll type incident with him which caused a problem with his knee so he will be out for a while.”