Matt Diskin hails Batley Bulldogs’‘outstanding’ victory over Widnes Vikings

BOSS MATT Diskin reckons Batley Bulldogs’ 20-18 win over Widnes Vikings was “up there” as one of the best results of his coaching career.
Batley players celebrate during their victory over Widnes Vikings.Batley players celebrate during their victory over Widnes Vikings.
Batley players celebrate during their victory over Widnes Vikings.

It was only Bulldogs’ second victory in nine league games, ended a four-match losing streak and lifted them to 10th in the Betfred Championship.

“It’s something we desperately needed given our start to the year,” Diskin admitted of the shock win yesterday.

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“We’ve shown some glimpses of quality, but not quite backed it up with results, so to get that win, hopefully it can kick start us and we can start to build a bit of momentum.”

Batley's Tom Lillycrop takes on Widnes' MacGraff Leuluai.Batley's Tom Lillycrop takes on Widnes' MacGraff Leuluai.
Batley's Tom Lillycrop takes on Widnes' MacGraff Leuluai.

Batley played uphill in the first half and turned around with the scores locked at 6-6.

“I thought we were unlucky not to go in leading at half-time with some of the plays we came up with,” Diskin said.

“Defensively we were outstanding.

“They had a couple of tries on our right-edge where structurally we are quite good, but they just got on our centre’s outside shoulder which we’ll have a look at.

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“But we worked as a unit and you could see the spirit. They worked hard for each other and that’s why we got the result.”

Widnes went ahead twice in the second half, but Batley rallied each time and won it with a late penalty.

Diskin added: “I think the adversity we’ve had since the start of the year has conditioned us and made us a bit mentally tougher.

“We had a man sin-binned and conceded two tries and the game could easily have gone the other way, but we showed some real character and some grit to stay in the game and the boys thoroughly deserved the win.

“I thought they were outstanding.”

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Diskin described mood in the camp after the game as “very euphoric”.

He said: “It has been a long time coming, getting that win and the boys certainly enjoyed it.

“So they should.”

Batley lost Keenan Tomlinson early on which led to Paul Brearley coming on at left-centre.

“That’s not his natural position, but I thought he was outstanding,” Diskin observed.