Gary Thornton: We did ourselves proud

Rochdale Hornets head coach Gary Thornton says he was pleased with many aspects of his side’s performance after they fell to a 30-14 defeat away at Batley Bulldogs in the fourth round of the Betfred Challenge Cup.

Against higher-level opposition, the Hornets acquitted themselves well and took an early lead through Tommy Brierley - the first of two tries he would go on to score at the Fox’s Biscuits Stadium. 

However, scores from George Senior, Luke Cooper and Joe Burton turned the game in the Bulldogs' favour before the break. 

The Hornets dug deep in the second half, crossing again through Dan Nixon, and the scoreline could’ve read much closer by full-time, had Nixon’s second of the game not been pulled back for a forward pass moments before the final hooter.

Nevertheless, Thornton was keen to stress the positives of what he saw as a much-improved display from his Hornets side.

"Obviously we're never pleased to lose a game," he said post-match. 

"I thought we were good today. I don't think they were too much better than us - we gave some soft tries away in the first half, again through our errors rather than anything they did.

"I've got to be pleased with a lot of what we did. It was a massive improvement from last week, and it's what we're trying to do - build week on week. 

"We've been playing Championship quality teams over the last few weeks and adapted to it better and better. It can only be good for us leading into the season."