Bathurst Bulldogs will hope to never see a repeat of the Blowes Clothing Cup game they played away to Forbes Platypi on Saturday, where the visitors were bested 22-21.

The scoreline will tell you it was a close contest but Bulldogs knew that they should have come home with the points if they cut back on the penalties.

And a red card to flanker Zach Taylor early in the second half didn't help the cause.

Bulldogs were their own worst enemy against a fired up Forbes side who were fighting hard to keep their faint finals chances alive.

The Bathurst boys actually outscored the Platypi three tries to one but Forbes were more than happy to take the bountiful penalty opportunities which came their way, with Daniel Higgins kicking four of them.

Bulldogs captain Justin Mobbs said it's not a performance for the team to look back on fondly for any reason.

"Forbes wanted it a little bit more than us and we shot ourselves in the foot a couple of times, not just with the card, but we constantly give Forbes piggybacks up the field to get them out of trouble and up to our end," he said.

"That red card came early in the second half, probably just five minutes in, and that definitely hurts. It was still really close at that point and it meant that we had to step up, but we continued to make the same mistakes that we were making before at that point."

Taylor's red card came from a dangerous tackle, leaving Bulldogs in desperate need to pick up their game despite having the advantage on the scoreboard.

But penalties continued to hinder the Bulldogs' game.

Forbes didn't just ride on the coattails of those penalties, they also continued to make ground through the middle and wear down the undermanned Bulldogs.

It proved too much for the Bulldogs to contain as Jarrod Hall bagged a brace and Higgins' boot piled on the pain.

Mobbs believes that would have been the end result even with an even number of players for both teams.

"The card isn't the reason we lost. I'd say the result would have been similar even with 15 on the field," he said.

"Discipline was where it was lost, also our execution when we did have chances. I'd say that was the case from very early on, probably the first five to 10 minutes.

"We were defending inside our 22m for almost that entire period."