Batley 20-12 Halifax: Late Meadows try seals comeback win for the Bulldogs against the Panthers at the Summer Bash

In a reverse of the previous meeting between the two sides in March when the Panthers came from behind to defeat Batley, the game was as physical as you’d expect from two teams looking to close the gap on the top three teams and get some separation between each other in the league.

The first half was an arm wrestle, both teams jostling for possession, but it was the Panthers that went into the sheds at half time with a 12-4 lead orchestrated by the hands of Louis Joufrett, who set up their first two tries.

Elliott Kear scored for Batley after a spell of sustained pressure on the Panthers’ line.

The first half was about Jouffrett and his magic hands but in the second half it was Josh Woods’ turn to dominate with his magic feet.

Batley scored twice in quick succession, on the back of two probing kicks from Woods, the first one finding Dane Manning and the second for himself.

Both teams were missing some influential players and at times it showed, a scrappy game for the most part that could have gone either way.

The momentum switched between the teams so many times through the 80 minutes, it was easy to see why these sides were both sitting on equal points at this stage in the season.

Batley’s lead seemed to be hanging in the balance with 10 minutes to go and the Panthers piling on the pressure.

But an unexpected break from second row Lucas Walshaw swung the pendulum back into their favour, with James Meadows putting the final nail in the coffin and diving over in the corner to give Batley a 20-12 victory.

Halifax Panthers: J Woodburn-Hall, Z McComb, J Maizen, B Tibbs, L Walmsley, L Jouffrett, T Inman, W Calcott, B Moore, D Murray, B Kavanagh, M Gee, J Fairbank. Interchanges: K Wood, A Tangata, K Larroyer, R Lannon, B Pickersgill.

Batley Bulldogs: A Mcgowan, D Morton, J Hodson, K Buchanan, E Kear, B White, J Woods, A Gledhill, L Blake, T Lillycrop, D Manning, L Walshaw, M Reilly. Interchanges: J Meadows, M Ward, G Senior, N Flynn, O Burton.