Kingstone Press Championship Preview: Batley Bulldogs v Leigh Centurions

Batley Bulldogs lost 28-22 to London Broncos on Wednesday but coach John Kear was full of praise for his players.

“It was a very rewarding night,” he said. “I saw a massive improvement and the biggest improvement for me was the self-belief and unity within the group. We are in a much better place than we have been on the past two Mondays.

“I think there were many more positives we could take from it and I’m also going to credit London – their goal line defence was excellent.”

The Bulldogs face another full-time outfit on Sunday in Leigh Centurions but Kear is adamant they won’t be using the short turnaround as an excuse.

“We’re going to turn up, put our playing shirts on and our boots on, get out there and give it a go,” he said.

Defeat at London Broncos brought Leigh Centurions’ 27-game winning run to an end. Coach Paul Rowley said: “You win some and you lose some. In sport, generally the most committed team will win and in that instance it was London.

“We want to start another run; the objective never changes, we want to win every game we play in and this week it’s Batley.

“I’m sure Batley have got the same objective. It will be another tough game, it’s always a tough venue to go to and they’re always a tough team to play against with a good coach who I have a lot of respect for. We’ll prepare well, see who’s committed and see what happens.”

Prop Martin Aspinwall is on the comeback trail and French centre Mathias Pala joins the squad following Michael Platt’s long term injury.