NEIL Jukes wants Leigh fans to give his new squad a second chance by turning out in force again for Sunday’s Betfred Championship clash with Batley Bulldogs, kick-off 3pm, writes Trevor Baxter.

A crowd of 5,452 watched last weekend’s humiliating 34-12 defeat by a Toronto Wolfpack side containing 10-ex Centurions players.

Admitting more painful defeats in his career, head coach Jukes agrees there can’t be a repeat performance against Matt Diskin’s Bulldogs.

“We let ourselves down and in particular we let the fans down,” said Jukes. “It was a great turnout from the home crowd.

“So, hopefully, they will come out in numbers again when we have an opportunity to show a better performance.

“I know and the players have been told if we have the same disrespect for the ball and the same indiscipline Batley will come here and pull our pants down.

“We have got to get our own house in order. We can’t let it get to an outcome before we change things.

“We started the game well but didn’t put our best foot forward.

“We got caught up in the emotion of the game and didn’t do things we practised. We made it into a war rather than going about our own process.”

Jukes watched his side race into a 12-0 lead after eight minutes and then concede 34 successive points.

But he says last season’s Million Pound Game defeat to Catalans Dragons was more soul destroying.

“I sat in the same changing room four months earlier and 19 players lost their jobs. That was horrendous,” he said.

“We also got beat by a part-time team (Batley) in my first ever game in charge and that was tough.

“So, I have had darker days than Sunday, losing to a full-time team not playing well. But I don’t want too many more of them.”

Papua New Guinea international, Kurt Baptiste, could make his Leigh debut against the Bulldogs whose Championship opener at Rochdale last Sunday was postponed due to a “weather damaged” pitch.

Batley had warmed up for the big kick-off with friendly wins over a youthful Wakefield side, Keighley and Doncaster.

“It’s a bit of an unknown because they didn’t play last weekend,” agrees Jukes. “So, we need to concentrate on ourselves and get back to some consistency.

“Over the past few games we have given lots of opportunities. You can’t have too much patience because it is a short competition.

“Ten new guys made their debuts so I didn’t expect us to give our best performance of the year. But we needed to be a lot smarter which I expect on Sunday.”