Manly coach Des Hasler admitted his side had its chances in its 20-12 loss to the Cowboys on Saturday night and was noticeably grumpy in the post-match press conference.
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Asked whether he was happier with his team's defensive effort this time around compared to conceding a humiliating nine tries last Sunday against the Wests Tigers, Hasler was very prickly with his response.
"I think nine tries compared to three, what do you think?" Hasler said. "You good as maths? It was a lot better tonight."
With two losses on the trot and two upcoming games against top eight sides, Hasler said his team can ill-afford to give away auspicious starts like they did on Saturday after a terrific opening 20 minutes.
"I thought we had plenty of opportunities there, but we just didn't execute well enough, particularly in the start of the second half," Hasler said. "I think we had about five good ball opportunities there and a couple of errors from Cowboys, but I think we only completed one of those five opportunities.
"We need some players back in key positions, so they should start coming back in the next couple of weeks. We need to consolidate on that, it was certainly an opportunity."
Bulldogs halfback Trent Hodkinson, who was outshone by Johnathan Thurston in attack and defence, said he misses his halves partner Josh Reynolds and hopes the Bulldogs can break their slump before the pointy end of the season.
"I'm looking forward to having him [Reynolds] back and him controlling his side of the field and me controlling mine," Reynolds said. "We want to finish as high as we can and that top four spot is what we want to get into and we need every win to get into the finals. Tonight was a bit of a hiccup, but we're going to be playing Penrith next week and they're going to be desperate as well, so it's going to be a big game and we need every win at the moment to finish as high as we can."
