Diskin praises Bulldogs

Batley Bulldogs picked up their seventh win of the Championship season on Sunday.

The five-try 26-12 victory extends the Bulldogs’ lead over eighth-placed Rochdale Hornets to five points with six rounds of the regular season remaining.

Head coach Matt Diskin feels that his side are starting to adapt to the different outlook he brought to the club after succeeding John Kear and praised the efforts of his team, particularly in the first half against Swinton.

“What won us that game was our first forty minutes,” he said. “I thought we were really disciplined and controlled. We dictated field position whilst defensively harassing Swinton.

“We forced them into a lot of errors and it was a really good forty minute performance.”

He felt that his middle forwards dominated. “Finally!” added Diskin.

“It’s maybe a little too late in the season to make anything of the four, but we are finally getting to grips with the new culture, new standards and new systems and it’s looking good – it’s looking good for us to build for the rest of the year

“We’ve changed a lot in how we structure our defence and it’s taken us a while to grasp that and it looks like the penny has finally dropped for us.

“If that’s the case then we’ll be a very hard team to break down, but there is only one or two performances where we have sustained it. We have to make it week to week and that is the challenge for us now.”

Pat Walker started at half-back alongside Cain Southernwood and earned special praise from his boss.

“I thought Pat was massive for us, he adds a real calming influence and in the first half, that composure and his kicking game were fantastic.”