Pay conceded his side lost their way as the Eels ran over the top of them at ANZ Stadium on Thursday night to keep the race to avoid the wooden spoon alive.

Melbourne coach Craig Bellamy was openly critical of the Bulldogs' fifth-tackle options during the Fox League commentary.

Lewis, who inked a two-year contract extension during the week, and Marshall-King lacked polish to their end of sets and allowed the Eels to establish field position.

With Kieran Foran (toe) out for the season, the pair have been handed the reins during a difficult season at Belmore.

Pay does have options in the form of Nu Brown, who has taken on the utility role the last four weeks, and Matt Frawley, who was dropped last month.

However, he has vowed to stick solid and continue with the pair's development.

"You can't just throw them out, you've got to stick with them," Pay said.

"You've got to keep working hard with them, they're going to get better. It's just a progression and it's where we're at."

Lewis, who made his debut against Newcastle in round 16, has played four first-grade games while Marshall-King has just 19 NRL games to his name after earning his first start with the Wests Tigers last year.

Pay said they would be given more time to develop.

The Bulldogs failed to score a try after the seventh minute and the result leaves them on 10 points, equal with the Eels and North Queensland at the foot of the table.

Pay said Marshall-King and Lewis needed to be adventurous enough to take the line on, as they had done early in the game and in previous weeks.

"We had a fair bit more ball than them and we just didn't do enough with it," Pay said.

"We had a couple of young blokes there in the halves that were going sideways, we've got to dig into the line, create some opportunities for ourselves."

Australian Associated Press