Batley Bulldogs need to be more clinical says Matt Diskin

Bulldogs suffered a third successive defeat in the Betfred Championship when they were pipped 20-18 at Halifax yesterday.

The damage was done in the first half when Halifax raced into an 18-0 lead but Batley battled back strongly after the break and only a late penalty goal separated the teams at the end.

“We will continue to work on being more clinical with the ball but to give teams an 18-point lead, particularly a team of Halifax’s quality, is sinful and we got burned for it,” admitted Diskin.

But he stressed: “Structurally – the plays and everything they threw at us – we defended really comfortably.”

He added: “I think there are areas we can correct.

“With the ball, we still have work to do. The few tries we scored were really good and really sharp but we aren’t doing that regularly enough.”

The second-half turnaround gave Diskin some encouragement ahead of next Sunday’s visit of fellow strugglers Rochdale Hornets.

He said: “I gave them a gentle reminder (at half-time) of what they needed to be doing.

“They came out second half and performed a lot better.

“We blew a few opportunities – people starting in the wrong shape, running the wrong lines.

“In the second half, we addressed that and for a 15-minute spell we were really clinical with the ball.

“We lost our way a little bit toward the back end again but we have shown when it clicks we have got some real quality. We just need to be doing it more regularly.”

Batley risk getting cut adrift from the top-five so this week’s game is a must-win. Diskin insisted: “I think if we play as we did in the second half against any team in the league we will give them a run for their money.

“Rochdale haven’t picked up any points yet, but we have got to concentrate on what we can control as a group, not what is getting brought to us by Rochdale.”