Kingstone Press Championship Round 8 preview: Batley Bulldogs v Featherstone Rovers

Both Batley Bulldogs and Featherstone Rovers will be looking to get back to winning ways as neither club managed a win over the Easter period.

Batley coach John Kear said: “I was disappointed with the Easter results, we came away with nothing. More disappointing for me was how we played on Good Friday against Dewsbury. I felt we did ourselves a bit of justice on Easter Monday at London Broncos, especially in the second half when we came back from 18-0 down and at one stage looked as though we could sneak a point.

“Good Friday was doubly disappointing in that it was a local derby but it happened and we’ve got to move on and look forward to Featherstone on Sunday.

“Andy Hay will be trying to get their mind set right and boost their self-belief and confidence just as I’ll be doing that with my players.

“We didn’t really suffer a knockback in confidence because Dewsbury are a team in and around us and are a very good team while London are a full-time outfit. We need to start getting into these tight games and come out the other side.”

Featherstone Rovers coach Andy Hay said: “It was a very tough Easter, we had two home games, prepared well for them and came up short in both games. In the Monday game we played a lot better but credit to Sheffield, they were very good.

“We struggled a little bit and we’ve got a big improvement to make going into Sunday at Batley.

“We played them in a pre-season and it’s always tough – Batley are a strong side who have threats all over the field. It’s going to be a tough game and there’s the added pressure of needing to get wins.”

Featherstone are likely to be without prop Paul Wood for several weeks due to a foot injury.