Giants fall to Castleford

Dixon: Ten-point haul for winger

Castleford Tigers set up a Carnegie Challenge Cup semi-final clash against Leeds Rhinos with a thrilling 22-18 victory over Huddersfield at the PROBIZ Coliseum.

The Tigers were far from clinical but they produced moments of brilliance along with dogged determination to keep alive Terry Matterson's hopes of claiming a trophy in his final season with the club.

Converted tries from Kirk Dixon and Jordan Thompson gave the home side the perfect start although Scott Grix's score halved the deficit at half-time.

Jermaine McGillvary then crossed as the Giants threatened a comeback but further efforts from Castleford's Danny Orr and Ryan Hudson - in-between Leroy Cudjoe's try - put the hosts on course for the win, rendering Michael Lawrence's late try a mere consolation.

Indeed, the visitors - who matched their opponents with four tries - were left to rue Danny Brough's profligacy with the boot, with the Scot converting just one try.

Opened scoring

After an error-strewn opening, it was Dixon who opened the scoring after collecting a pass from Rangi Chase, who returned to the Tigers starting line-up following a one-match suspension, before bundling his way over on the left despite the presence of four Huddersfield defenders.

The winger added the first of three conversions and Castleford doubled their lead after taking advantage of more questionable defending from the visitors, substitute Thompson twisting his way through several challenges to touch down near the sticks.

Things could have got even better for the Tigers, but Richard Owen's try was chalked off after a forward pass to the winger by Joe Arundel.

The visitors took advantage of that let-off to halve the deficit, some impressive build-up work allowing Robinson to burst through a gap in the Castleford defence before offloading to Grix, who barged over.

Huddersfield, looking for their third semi-final appearance in six years, continued to boss proceedings for the final few minutes of the half but they could not find another score.

Piece of brilliance

However, a piece of brilliance from McGillvary brought them within two points of the Tigers shortly after the interval, the winger picked up Chase's grubber before sprinting the length of the field - outpacing Ryan McGoldrick in the process - to touch down.

With an out-of-sorts Brough missing the kick, the game was finely poised but Castleford refused to let their heads drop and the impressive Orr exploited another hole in the Huddersfield defence to go over.

After weathering a sustained period of pressure from the hosts, Huddersfield once again kept their opponents within touching distance when Brough's high ball was plucked out of the air and grounded by half-back partner Cudjoe.

But Brough's subsequent conversion miss was made to look all the more costly as former Huddersfield hooker Hudson went over soon after on the left.

Dixon's first miss of the afternoon kept the gap to eight points and Lawrence then hauled his way over on the right to set up a nervy finale, but Castleford held firm.