'Nice full stop': Departing Batley Bulldogs and Halifax Panthers coaches chase Wembley glory

Batley won three of the first five Challenge Cup finals but they were all played at Headingley, with the national stadium used from 1929 intermittently.

A first Wembley appearance in the club's 143-year history is an achievement in itself but Lingard is desperate to go one step further ahead of his departure at the end of the season.

"It's an unbelievable feeling to be able to be the first coach that has done this with Batley," said Lingard, who has agreed to join relegation-threatened Castleford Tigers permanently from 2024.

"It's a massive occasion for everyone involved with the club. It'll certainly be a proud moment for me leading out a club that has meant a lot to me as a player and coach.

"As a kid growing up whether you're a rugby player or a football player, you want to play at Wembley in a Challenge Cup final or an FA Cup final.

"Our guys aren't in the actual main event but it's our Challenge Cup final because it's a competition for the Championship and League 1 teams.

"I never got anywhere near to playing at Wembley as a player but the next best thing is leading out a group of blokes I've got a lot of admiration for and have had a lot of success with in relative terms for Batley.

"It would be a nice full stop on my time at Batley."

Opposite number Simon Grix is also preparing to leave his role at the end of the year to become an assistant coach at Hull FC.

The Halifax boss would dearly love to leave his hometown club on a high.

"Finals don't come along too often," he said.

"I'm from Halifax so there's the emotional side of it and I'm leaving at the end of the year as well.

"It would be nice to leave in good fashion and that's the same for Craig."

A month ago, Fax were hammered 42-0 at Batley but that result appears to have sparked Grix's team back into life.

Halifax have since claimed impressive wins over Newcastle Thunder and Featherstone Rovers, either side of a narrow loss at Sheffield Eagles.

"They gave us a hiding not too long ago which was a humbling experience," said Grix, who is set to welcome back key playmaker Joe Keyes after a three-month absence.

"We could have been on the pitch another half hour and I don't reckon we would have scored and they might have scored a few more as well.

"Those days happen sometimes. We got over it pretty quickly and hopefully that can act as a bit of fuel to owe them one for embarrassing us.

"It's always a tough game against Batley. We'll have to be really good to get the victory – as will they hopefully."

Like Grix, Lingard is not reading anything into the last meeting between the clubs.

"They'd had a bit of inconsistency but that's turned around a little bit since we beat them quite convincingly at our place," he said.

"We're hoping the shellacking we got against Bradford will put us back on the right track.

"Apart from the anomaly where we beat them 42-0, the games between Batley and Halifax are normally very, very close and decided by a score or two scores.

"I'd imagine it's going to be something fairly similar to that in the final."