Wildcats battle past Tigers

Wakefield Wildcats were propelled to a 19-6 victory over Castleford Tigers by tries from Dale Morton and Tevita Leo-Latu early in the second half.

The pair touched down in the space of five minutes to hand the Wildcats control after Sam Obst and Jordan Thompson had traded tries before the break at Belle Vue.

Handling was difficult on a wet surface but Paul Cooke delivered an influential performance on his first home start for the Wildcats and added three goals and a late drop goal.

The result condemned Cas to their sixth defeat of the campaign but lifted John Kear's Wakefield back within four points of the top of the league.

Thompson almost got Cas off to a perfect start after Ryan McGoldrick broke and looked out wide but the winger was unable to take in his pass.

Wakefield then enjoyed a good spell with Cooke, in his third game since leaving Hull KR, getting plenty of possession and driving the hosts forward.

Pressure

Wildcats pressure paid off after 14 minutes as Obst scampered over in the corner from a Glenn Morrison offload and Cooke added the touchline conversion.

The Tigers came back but another chance was lost as Rangi Chase dropped the ball and Wakefield winger Damien Blanch then did well to deal with a Brent Sherwin kick.

It was from another Sherwin kick that the visitors pulled themselves back level.

Morton was unable to catch a high kick to the corner and Thompson pounced for a try which Joe Westerman converted.

But he made amends for that error as Wakefield upped the tempo early in the second half.

Cooke spread play wide and the left winger was on hand to touch down from a fine ball from Daryl Millard.

The Wildcats followed up with another try in quick succession, Leo-Latu stretching to pluck a Ben Jeffries kick out of the air and touch down.

Wicked

Cooke added his second goal and then applied further pressure with a kick that took a wicked bounce and almost caught out Thompson.

Jeffries burst through a gap to send Morrison clear but McGoldrick denied him with a fine tackle.

A scuffle broke out after McGoldrick caught Jeffries with a high tackle but Wakefield were eventually happy to accept a penalty and Cooke added two more points.

Cooke then put the game further out of reach with a one-pointer seven minutes from time and the hosts duly ran down the clock.