Batley Bulldogs v Bradford Bulls: Coach Matt Diskin working hard to instil more belief into his Bulldogs

That is the message from coach Matt Diskin ahead of Sunday’s visit of Bradford Bulls in the Betfred Championship (3pm). Bulldogs have won only one of their opening five games, were well beaten 44-16 at Sheffield Eagles last weekend and are fourth from bottom in the table.

Diskin is adamant his squad are good enough, but admits self-belief has suffered.

He insisted: “We are working hard as a staff and group of players to make sure we go into games with more confidence. We’ve got a good group of players, a talented group.

“They just need to play with a bit more confidence and if they do momentum will pick up and results will come.”

After Sunday’s game, Batley face Toronto Wolfpack, Toulouse Olympique and Widnes Vikings in successive weeks.

Diskin admitted: “We have got a tough run coming against full-time teams.

“We are coming off the back of a poor loss to Sheffield and it was disappointing the way we capitulated, but we are at home and we see an opportunity to get some points against Bradford.

“We played very well in the pre-season games and we have been training well, but the issue is we have got to transfer that into the game.”