Wigan 28-12 Castleford: Warriors prove too strong for Tigers with Oliver Gildart double
Last Updated: 21/04/18 7:44am
Oliver Gildart scored two tries for Wigan Warriors as they maintained their unbeaten home record at the DW Stadium with an assured 28-12 victory against Castleford Tigers.
After the Warriors were forced to secure back-to-back comeback victories in their last two Betfred Super League matches they started strongly to open out a 14-2 lead in the first 25 minutes, through tries by Gildart and Liam Farrell.
Castleford, who were guilty of two missed tackles for both scores, recovered and soon regained control over proceedings before two quickfire tries from Oliver Holmes and debutant Garry Lo saw the Tigers cut the gap to two points at the break.
Wigan made an explosive start to the second half with Joe Burgess going over after an exceptional break down the left wing and Gildart ran on to a pass to crash over in the corner.
George Williams made the most of a small gap in the Tigers defence to score a fourth try of the night before Tony Clubb finished the match off with a try of his own from short distance after patient build-up play in attack.
Last season's table-toppers Castleford came into the meeting on the back of a comprehensive win against Catalans Dragons but it was a debutant in Garry Lo, who impressed the most for the visitors with ball in hand.
Both sides traded early penalties but after defence had proved strongest in the opening stages, it was Burgess who slid past a tackle by Jake Webster to charge upfield. He was eventually hauled to the ground by Greg Minikin's last-ditch tackle only for Gildart to benefit from a quick pass to touch down for the first try of the night.
Farell went over for his side's second try of the night soon after he evaded another unsuccessful Tigers tackle, with Sam Tomkins adding another conversion.
The visitors responded well despite their deficit on the scoreboard and forced their way back into the match with Holmes going over from close distance before Lo went over in the corner. Luke Gale was unable to leave the game level at the break as he missed his conversion attempt from the touchline.
Burgess showed his pace and power in attack straight after the break as he raced almost 70m down by the touchline before he offloaded the ball to the willing support runner of Gildart, who eased over for his second try of the night.
A couple of handling errors, as they looked to build up some momentum and mount a fightback, summed up the Tigers fortunes on the night.
After a 40-20 from Tomkins put the hosts deep in the Tigers half, Williams showed good strength in attack to force his way over.
Lo was unfortunate to miss out on a second try for the visitors before Clubb sealed the victory with a close-range finish to keep up pace with league leaders St Helens.
