Castleford 28-18 Warrington: Tigers victorious over Wire
By Press Assocation
Last Updated: 18/08/18 7:29am
Castleford Tigers marked the one-year anniversary of their maiden League Leaders' Shield victory by climbing into third place following a 28-18 win against Warrington.
Twelve months to the day since securing their first league crown in their 91-year history, the Tigers ensured their fans were celebrating once more as they ran in five tries to close the gap to just one point behind second-placed Wigan.
Winger James Clare opened the scoring on his 100th career appearance to put the hosts ahead before a Jamie Ellis penalty and tries from Junior Moors and Greg Eden gave Castleford a comfortable 16-0 half-time lead.
Warrington made a fist of a comeback with quickfire tries from Stefan Ratchford and Bryson Goodwin to reduce the scoreline to 16-12, but Castleford were a class apart as Eden crossed again as did Mike McMeeken, with Ratchford grabbing a late consolation try.
The defeat for Steve Price's men may have come at a price, as Mitch Brown and Tyrone Roberts picked up injuries ahead of next week's Challenge Cup final with Catalans Dragons.
The hosts gained the early territorial advantage and it was not long before the home fans were cheering the first score after a neat overlap on the right edge set Clare clear to cross on his landmark appearance after eight minutes.
Ellis nudged the Tigers into a 6-0 lead with a simple penalty on the quarter-hour mark before Warrington winger Mitch Brown was carried off with a serious-looking knee injury.
Castleford continued to pile on the pressure and their advantage increased to 12-0 when a short grubber kick by Paul McShane ended up in the hands of prop Moors to dot down.
Ratchford sliced through the Tigers defence in a rare attack for the visitors but he was expertly brought down by Peter Mata'utia before his team-mates scrambled to prevent Toby King from crossing.
And, there was time for one more score as Eden picked off a loose pass from King to acrobatically dive in the corner for Castleford's third try on the stroke of half-time.
Roberts went off at the break with concussion but Warrington still came flying out of the blocks and deservedly got on the scoreboard through Ratchford after he latched onto a tidy reverse kick from Kevin Brown to touch down.
The momentum continued with the Wolves and they grabbed their second try when half-back Brown was the instigator with a great cut-out pass for Goodwin to dive over from close range, with Ratchford adding his second goal to reduce the lead to four points.
But, Castleford moved further in front when a great offload from Liam Watts set Grant Millington free and although Jake Trueman was halted short of the line, McShane picked out Eden with a superb kick to the touchline for his second score on 60 minutes.
Ratchford stopped a certain Oliver Holmes try with a last-gasp tackle but could not stop McMeeken from strolling over to move 28-12 ahead following Ellis fourth goal.
Ratchford, tireless in his endeavour all night, score the final try of the evening which Patton converted but victory belonged to the Tigers.
