Craig Lingard: Whitehaven pose ‘difficult task’ as Batley Bulldogs look for win to reignite play-off push

Lingard’s men have lost their previous five league games, a dire run of form which has seen them drop out of the top six. However, the Batley boss knows three wins from their remaining three games will, more than likely, secure their play-off spot.

Speaking ahead of 11th placed Haven’s visit, Lingard said:

“It is always difficult against Whitehaven. They have got some quality players in their ranks. Josh Rourke at full-back is an outstanding young player and I think he will be their danger man.

“They have got a number of overseas players as well. Every time Dion Aiye plays against us he always seems to play well. It is going to be a difficult task.

“They are a little bit similar to us in that they haven’t got any out-and-out superstars that play for them but they have got quality all the way through the team and players that work hard for each other and that’s what gets them through games.”

He added: “We still believe. We may need a favour from other teams but if we win our games we are still confident that we will make the play-offs as teams above us have got each other to play and will be taking points off each other. If we can do our job then we are fairly confident.

“It is really important we nail the performance against Whitehaven.”

Asked to put his finger on the Bulldogs’ slump in form, Lingarded answered:

“We have always had a bit of a slump around this time of year and always seem to lose two or three games on the bounce. It always seems to be this part of the season where we have a little bit of a dip and then we normally come through the other side, which we are hoping to do.

“Also, we have only used 26 players this year and everybody else has used a lot more than what we have. We haven’t had a weekend off since March because of the cup run and getting to Wembley. We have had a number of people being out injured for a few weeks as well which has put a lot of stress and strain on the squad but that’s rugby league.

“We don’t want to look for excuses, we want to look for solutions and control what we can control.

“But if somebody had given me the option of not playing at Wembley and having two or three weekends off during the season so that you might be in a better position in the table, I wouldn’t take it because we have had the experience of playing at Wembley.

“We are still in control of our own destiny. That is our sole focus now, making the play-offs. You look at the table and in three weeks’ time it could be a totally different equation.”

And despite their most recent defeat at Widnes last Sunday, Lingard believes the signs are positive as the season reaches its business end.

He said: “The signs are definitely there. The players recognised they were a million miles better than where we have been for the past month or so.

"That’s good. Although we lost, we were in good spirits and are looking forward to these next three games.”

Batley, however, are likely to navigate the remaining games without Martyn Reilly who came off at Widnes with a suspected ACL injury.