Craig Lingard ‘absolutely delighted’ with Bulldogs’ rare win in London

Tries from Alistair Leak, Josh Hodson and Nyle Flynn, as well as a double from Scotland international Kieran Buchanan, ensured the Bulldogs got their new season off to the best possible start at Plough Lane.

After the win, Lingard said: “I am really pleased, as you want to get that first win on the board as soon as you can.

“Having lost Tom Gilmore and Luke Hooley last season, we have got a few new players in pivotal positions, so to get that first win on the board with the new players in those positions replacing those players, it just gives us a bit of confidence to show that we can hopefully move forward from their departure and that the new players can do an equally as good a job.

“But to go down there and get our first win in London for 35 years is a massive achievement for the club and for the players.

“It’s a long way before my time! It’s ten years before I made my debut! In that time I think it was eleven games lost on the bounce in London so it is a long time to go between victories, so I am glad to get that one wiped off the board now.”

A see-saw first half saw the teams go in level at the break before last season’s grand finalists took control in the second half.

“I thought we handled the first fifteen minutes of the game really well,” Lingard said. “We completed our sets and defended really tough and kept London away from our line.

“Then there was a bit of change in momentum after a bit of poor decision making on our process and London got on the front foot and got a couple of scores which were a little bit soft. One of the tries was just a pick-up and put over from dummy-half which is always disappointing when you concede tries like that.

“But we showed a bit of tenacity and got back into the game on the stroke of half time when Kieran Buchanan got the ball down in the corner to take us in level. I felt we edged that first half personally.

“But we spoke at half time and said we had to be disciplined in that second half and complete our sets and keep turning London round and I thought our defence managed to keep them away from our line.

“Our game management throughout that 40 minute period was absolutely outstanding.”

The Bulldogs’ victory, however, came with a price as Aidan McGowan and Dale Morton had to be replaced due to suspected concussion.

Lingard revealed: “We had to cope with a little bit of adversity in that we lost Aidan McGowan and Dale Morton to HIA (head Injury Assessment) in the first half so we had people playing out of positions and middles doing longer minutes for the last hour.

“It was a big effort from everybody.”

Batley Bulldogs are next in action against Swinton, at the Fox’s Biscuit Stadium, on Sunday, February 12, ko 3pm.