CRAIG Lingard believes Batley are the “blueprint” for his side after watching Keighley fall to a 28-0 pre-season defeat to the Bulldogs.

Played in horrendous conditions throughout, the Cougars never got out of second gear in a contest the visitors controlled from start to finish.

The Keighley boss said: “It’s a learning curve. We were playing against a well-established Championship team that have ground out the victory without doing anything too spectacular.

“Batley just completed their sets and were tough and physical throughout, so it’s a blueprint that we need to aim for.

“That blueprint is to get a lot more physical and get a lot tougher, both mentally and physically, and you take what you can out of pre-season games.

“But, as I’ve said previously, I look at the negatives and where we can improve and there are plenty of areas for improvement from our point of view.

“It was disappointing but we’re here to learn in friendlies and that is what we’re doing. I’m learning about the players and the team.

"The Championship is where we want to be and Batley have shown us the standard we need to be and that we’re a long way from that.”

The game was a physical contest in the challenging conditions. That was on show early on with plenty of big hits from both sides, one of which saw Lewis Galbraith collide with Liam Senior, yet Galbraith managed to get the offload away to Shaun Ainscough, who in turn sent Joe Chandler diving over.

The Bulldogs exposed the Cougars' right-edge defence once more when, following a missed tackle, Ainscough broke and the winger put a grubber in goal for Tom Hemingway to pounce on.

Keighley’s line defence held strong to prevent the Bulldogs extending their lead as Tom Lillycrop was held up following a missed tackle from Ryan Wright but Batley broke that stronghold seconds later as Jason Crookes dived over from close range.

Despite the freezing temperatures at Cougar Park, things heated up towards the end of the first half when, after a hand in the tackle, Lillycrop and Wright exchanged blows on the deck, leaving the referee no option but to send both to the sin-bin.

Batley continued on the front foot in the second half as Adam Gledhill was held up over the line and, from the resulting play-the-ball, James Davey got his outstretched arm over for the try.

Cougars then had their only real opportunity of the game to put some points on the board when Adam Ryder broke through the Bulldogs defensive line but spilt the ball at the crucial moment as he dived underneath the uprights.

The visitors extended their lead with the afternoon’s final score, much to the frustration of Lingard, as, from dummy half, Dave Scott exposed the room on the try-line to cross from a metre out without challenge.

The game turned into a scrappy affair with various incidents of handbags, the first coming after Brad Nicholson was penalised for a contentious shoulder charge on the kicker.

The Cougars coaching staff were then left rightly irate after a shoulder charge on Trae O’Sullivan went surprisingly unpunished, even after O’Sullivan had to depart the field with a severe case of concussion.

Keighley then had a period of play on the Batley line but couldn’t make it count.

Batley had the final scoring opportunity as the hooter sounded but Izaac Farrell’s effort was ruled out for an obstruction in the build-up.

PLAYER RATINGS

COUGARS: Hawkyard 6; Dixon 5; Barnes 5; Ryder 6; Gabriel 5; Hardcastle 5; Beharrell 5; Law 5; Conroy 5; Bailey 5; Senior 5; Tonks 5; Emmett 5. Subs: O’Sullivan 5; Lynam 5; Wright 5; Leeming 5; Nicholson 5; Kenga 5; Parker 5.

BULLDOGS: Scott 7; Crookes 5; Tomlinson 5; Galbraith 5; Ainscough 6; Hemingway 6; Farrell 5; Holland 5; Davey 7; Rowe 5; Chandler 5; Manning 5; Brown 5. Subs: Gledhill 6; Lillycrop 5; Ward 5; Cowling 5.