Castleford fight-back tops Wakefield

Wakefield 17-22 Castleford

Castleford controlled the ball after the break at Belle Vue and eventually won by an impressive four tries to one.

Skipper Adrian Vowles led the fightback with a try in the 48th minute but two touchdowns by Kiwi Michael Smith turned the game fully Castleford's way.

Barrie-Jon Mather completed the Tigers' try scoring but there was enough fight left in the home side to score the final try through prop Paul Jackson, converted by Martin Pearson, only for Cas stand-off Danny Orr to improve the visitors advantage with an on-the-hooter penalty.

At 11-10 I thought we'd got them

  Wildcats coach John Harbin

Tigers' coach Stuart Raper denied that his side had got off the hook.

"We put the groundwork in in the first half and won it in the second," he said.

"I was proud of the effort the players put in in that first half.

"Wildcats coach John Harbin said: "I felt we controlled the game in the first half but Cas did it in the second.

"At 11-10 I thought we'd got them."

It was all pretty drab to start with but after 20 minutes the game came to life.

Dominant spell

Pearson opened the scoring with a penalty, then converted after loose forward Tom Haughey crossed wide out for his first try in Super League.

The remainder of the first half belonged to Wakefield.

Wildcats forced the Tigers into three drop-out restarts during this dominant spell but had only a Pearson field goal, scored three minutes from the break, to show for their efforts.

Teams:

Wakefield: Holland, N. Law, Tatupu, Brooker, Sovatabua, Pearson, P. March, O'Neill, Rauter, Jackson, Field, Price, Haughey. Replacements: Hudson, Watene, Handforth, G. Law.
Castleford: Gay, Rogers, Eagar, Mather, Wells, Orr, Healey, Sampson, Raper, Lynch, Harland, Shaw, Vowles. Replacements: Smith, Pryce, Lennon, Handford.
Referee: Stuart Cummings (Widnes)