BATLEY BULLDOGS coach James Ford admits a number of knocks and niggles to his players have altered his view on the two-weekend break from action which has delayed the bid to build on successive wins.

The boss had to play the waiting game for the first competitive match of his Fox’s Biscuits Stadium reign due to the failure of his former club and Batley’s scheduled Championship opening-round opponents Featherstone to make the starting line.

The Bulldogs then beat Hunslet ARLFC in round two of the Challenge Cup before suffering four straight defeats, to Halifax, Doncaster and Midlands Hurricanes in the league and Catalans in the cup.

A first league victory (54-6 at home) was claimed at the expense of Swinton before Batley headed to Colwyn Bay and beat North Wales Crusaders 30-16.

Their next game isn’t until Sunday, March 29, when they visit London Broncos, with a Good Friday home derby against Dewsbury following on April 3.

Outside back Felix Ellis will miss those two games after being handed a two-match suspension for dangerous contact during the Swinton clash.

But Ford hopes to have plenty of options despite a string of players picking up issues during the North Wales meeting.

“We lost three to soft-tissue injuries, and that had an effect on us in the second half,” explained Ford, whose side bagged all their points before the break.

“We had to adjust what we were doing quite significantly, and players going off during a game has a knock-on effect on rotations as well.

“Some players, such as (prop) Robson Stevens and (loose-forward) Evan Hodgson, stayed on longer than they might have otherwise.

“At first I was frustrated about the gap between games, but given the injury situation, maybe it’s fallen right for us.”

Ford was pleased with the first-half display, adding: “We were pretty good, and a couple of errors away from maybe topping 40 points.

“One came when we were close to scoring, and on the back of that, they got their first try.”