EAMON O’Carroll has admitted that it will take him some time to recover from Bradford’s 21-20 loss at Batley Bulldogs on Sunday.

The Bulls fell to a shock defeat in the dying seconds of the contest, with Josh Woods nailing a late game-clincher to sink Bradford hearts.

Fortunately, they have the chance to right some wrongs this weekend when Barrow Raiders come to Odsal on Sunday, but O’Carroll confirmed that he’s still feeling the aftermath of his side’s latest defeat.

He said: “I’m still frustrated; it’s one that will leave me with a hangover for a good while. It needs to be like that.

“We probably did enough to get the game done – but even if we did (get the win) – I’d probably still be frustrated because there were several elements in our performance that I’ve seen too many times before.

“I need to make sure that we are learning lessons and learning them quickly.”

After starting brightly and going 12-0 ahead at Batley last weekend, O’Carroll admitted his side reverted to type.

He said: “The start we made was good and there were signs of us taking on board what we’d worked on during the week, but then there seemed to be an element of confusion within our set plays and structure.

“I told the players at training that highlighting this on the video footage would be a waste of time, so instead we’ve spent the majority of time on the field this week during training.

“It’s important that we learn quickly and rectify our mistakes, and being on the field is the best way to do that.”

O’Carroll went on to say that his frustration is often amplified further after a lacklustre display, like at Batley, when the group have had a strong week on the training field.

He admitted: “I feel like our preparation is good, and the boys play a huge part in that.

“I’m confident in saying that the preparation is strong week-by-week and that it is up to the standards we need. We go into each fixture as best prepared as we possibly can.

“What makes things more frustrating is that when we perform like we have been in training, then we usually get rewarded for it.

“However, for whatever reason, the consistency in performance - which all the boys made a point of improving when I arrived - is not always happening.

“There are definitely some contributing factors to that, like injuries and the fact that we’ve not been able to pick the same 13 or 17 players every week.

“However, the plan is that simple that I expect everyone to be able to execute it and stick to it.”