Wakefield Trinity fielded a young and hungry side against Batley Bulldogs in Dale Morton’s Testimonial but ultimately came up short losing 44-16.

The opening 15 minutes of the game saw Batley attempt to take control of game through their experience and size against a young Wakefield side. Danny Kirmond’s side though matched up physically in defence on multiple occasions holding out the homes side on their own line. 

This defensive toughness was rewarded as Edward Hunter found Amir Sghaier out wide and the winger flew over the try line to open the scoring.

Eventually though, Batley were able to get over the line as Luke Cooper powered his way over from short range after back to back sets on the Trinity try line before his prop partner, Adam Gledhill spun out of a tackle to score the home sides second. 

The Bulldogs next time came from an unfortunate Wakefield error. Sghaier misjudged a high kick allowing it to go over his head and allow Kieran Buchanan to touch down. 

Just before half time, the man of the day Dale Morton got over out wide to send the Bulldogs in at the break 28-4 ahead. 

The second half started unfortunately for Wakefield much like the end of the first with Batley on top and adding to their score. 

First, Greg Johnson raced over out wide after a scrum play before the Burton brothers paired up with Oliver Burton making a break from dummy half before passing to Joe Burton to score. 

Trinity were not done though as a brilliant break from Jack Toulson set up the second Wakefield try. He found a supporting Josh Phillips who crossed for the score. 

The young Wakefield team showed some threatening signs as the second half rolled on but just unfortunately couldn’t quite convert their chances until five minutes before the end when Toulson powered his way over from short range carrying a couple of Bulldogs defenders along with him. 

Joe Burton scored a final try for the home side as the hooter sounded with Dale Morton kicking the conversion to bring an end to his testimonial. 

Wakefield Trinity: Hunter, Delaney, Brough, Law, Sghaier, Phillips, Booth, Tetley, Walker-Smith, Roberts, Winks, Staveley-Carr, Toulson

Subs: Smith, Thompson, Aydin, Maher, Easton, Stanley, Brown, Ratcliffe, Sheridan

Tries: Sghaier, Phillips, Toulson

Goals: Brough (2/3)

Batley Bulldogs: Butterworth, Morton, Buchanan, J.Burton, Kear, White, Woods, Gledhill, Leak, Cooper, J.Gibbons, Walshaw, Blake

Subs: O.Burton, Flynn, Moore, Brown, D.Gibbons, Johnson

Tries: Cooper, Gledhill, Buchanan (2), Morton, Johnson, J. Burton (2)
Goals: Woods (5/7), Morton (1/1)