Castleford ended a nearly three-decade wait for a win away to St Helens with a 20-10 victory in Thursday's Super League match; "It's awesome," Tigers head coach Daryl Powell said. "The players were so courageous tonight - that's a big win for us"
Thursday 12 August 2021 23:28, UK
Daryl Powell was delighted with his players as Castleford Tigers ended a long wait for an away win against St Helens as they stunned the reigning Betfred Super League Champions 20-10 at the Totally Wicked Stadium.
Greg Eden scored two tries and Danny Richardson kicked four goals against his former club as Castleford enjoyed a first win in St Helens since the Regal Trophy quarter-finals in 1992, and the first in a league match since 1990.
The Tigers frustrated the Super League champions, who at one stage were reduced to 11 men following a yellow card for James Bentley and a red for Tommy Makinson, as well as gaining a bit of revenge for last month's Challenge Cup final defeat to the same opponents.
"We haven't won here for 30-odd years so I'm made up to win here," Powell said. "It might be the last time I come here as Cas coach depending on play-offs and things, so I'm so pleased I'm the coach that ended that run.
"It's awesome. The players were so courageous tonight - that's a big win for us. I thought we defended really tough all the way through.
"It was a bit helter-skelter at the end, but Greg Eden came up with a great play with that interception try. It's something he's class at. He has such a great instinct as a player for things like that.
"We have backed up that win at Leeds last time out and we want to get in the top six. It's a tough ask because we only had 15 fit players a few weeks ago. People write you off because they don't always understand the situation. The focus now is to keep pushing hard."
In a low-scoring first half, Jack Welsby had given Saints the lead with a well-taken 20th-minute try but the visitors replied with a try from Eden four minutes before half-time.
Oliver Holmes scored Castleford's second try in the 52nd minute, converted again by Richardson to open up a 10-point lead.
Both teams had players sin-binned in the 63rd minute - Castleford's Peter Mata'utia and James Bentley of Saints after clashing in back play. Saints also lost Makinson 16 minutes from time after a late hit on Castleford's Niall Evalds.
Saints gave themselves a chance when Alex Walmsley scored with 13 minutes remaining but Eden's length of the field interception try with two minutes remaining sealed a famous win for Castleford and home head coach Kristian Woolf was disappointed with the standard of play from his side.
"Losses are always disappointing but we didn't play to our standards tonight," Woolf said. "We put too much pressure on ourselves with too many errors and poor penalties.
"Our discipline let us down and that was something that we've carried over from last week. That's something we need to get better at.
"I was pleased with the way we fought back with 11 men and gave ourselves a real chance. If we get that last play right (when Eden scored an interception try) we end up scoring. We put ourselves under too much pressure but there was a lot to be proud of.
"Castleford played well and they were right up for the game. We weren't quite at our best tonight - at this level of sport it's really fine margins and that's what we saw tonight."
