THE fight is on for Whitehaven to save their Championship status after a disastrous 50-0 whitewash to relegation rivals Batley plunged the West Cumbrians deep into trouble.

A win would have seen them on the brink of safety, and to within striking distance of the final play-off place, but things went horribly wrong at The Fox’s Biscuits Stadium.

Haven welcomed back a number of players to their squad after the Hunslet defeat, but failed to muster any sort of defence against a rampant Bulldogs side, who were keen to make up for last weekend’s shocking defeat to Featherstone Rovers.

Haven went 2-0 down after three minutes through a Scott Leatherbarrow penalty, and that was quickly followed by the first of Alex Brown’s three tries.

Brown was sent into space down the left-hand side and scored with a diving finish in the corner.

The winger then put Batley 10-0 up as he and Elliot Cosgrove were released and the Jamaican international was the beneficiary of his centre partner’s offload.

Brad Day helped increase his side’s advantage as he beat Haven’s defence to Cain Southernwood’s grubber kick with Leatherbarrow converting for a 16-0 lead.

Haven’s afternoon was perhaps summed up by Batley’s fourth try as Shaun Squires scored a 50-metre interception shortly before the break to give the Bulldogs a 20-0 lead.

Haven had mustered a second-half comeback the last time they visited Batley, but any chance of a repeat was quickly quashed by Luke Blake’s try.

The Batley hooker found a gap in Haven’s defence and managed to beat Ed Chamberlain for pace to score under the sticks.

Shaun Ainscough was made to wait for his try as a forward pass thwarted his first attempt.

Haven had a scrum on their 10-metre, line but conceded immediately as a wayward pass was taken by Batley in front of their line and winger Brown came up with the ball for his hat-trick.

James Brown then beat two Haven defenders for pace to score his side’s eighth try.

Batley captain Keegan Hirst scored from short range, and former Haven winger Ainscough managed to add his name to the scoresheet with a score in the corner.

James Brown scored his second of the afternoon with a pick-up from dummy half to make it 50-0 two minutes from time.

Leatherbarrow only managed five successful kicks from 11 attempts, and the scoreline could have been made tougher reading for James Coyle’s Haven side.