Whitehaven coach James Coyle hailed a spirited effort while bemoaning defensive frailties that led to his depleted side being dumped out of the Challenge Cup by a late drop-goal at Batley.

A recent resurgence has resulted in back-to-back Championship wins in March but injuries and the recall by Widnes of four dual-registration players left Haven travelling to West Yorkshire with a team roster stretched to the limit.

And, having shared 12 tries evenly in a see-saw encounter, a place in round five and the chance of drawing a Super League club, was ultimately decided by a late Dominic Brambani drop-goal for the hosts, leaving Coyle hugely frustrated.

Immediately after the 37-36 defeat, he commented: “It was exciting to watch from the fans’ point of view but emotions are obviously very different in the two changing rooms. Our shape was really good but our execution with the ball in hand let us down.

“Defensively we were poor and sloppy in tackles, which is mainly down to the fact that we had so many ‘middles’ missing – we were struggling for numbers.

“We were without the four available to us from Widnes: the Chapelhow twins, Sam Brooks and Ed Chamberlain, plus cup-tied Ryan Duffy and injured Elliott Miller.”

Haven have an early chance for revenge as they return to Batley in the league on Easter Monday, three days after the home derby against Workington, and Coyle continued:

“Considering everything, the performance was encouraging but, although we should be stronger, Batley are likely to be a lot better too – they’ll be working on where they were weak today before we meet again.

“It will be a tough ask and we will have to defend a lot better or else we might get embarrassed,” he warned.

The defeat ends any dreams of bringing a big name to The Recreation Ground in round five – possibly even surprise current Super League leaders Widnes – as last year’s bottom four are added to tomorrow’s draw.

But Coyle insists: “It would have been good for the club in terms of finances but there’s nothing to say we would have got a home draw or a big club and, in terms of players, it would have been tough for us as we only have a really thin squad of 21 or 22.”