Castleford’s victory over Warrington marks only their fifth Super League win this season.
Betfred Super League
Castleford (12) 20
Tries: Asi, Lawler, Simm Goals: Atkin 4
Warrington (10) 14
Tries: Stone, Thewlis, Ratchford Goal: Sneyd
Warrington’s Super League play-off hopes suffered a significant setback as they were defeated by a resilient Castleford side at the rain-soaked Mend-A-Hose Jungle.
Sam Stone initially put Warrington ahead, but the home team responded, taking a 12-6 lead with tries from Daejarn Asi and George Lawler, the latter capitalizing on a handling error.
Jake Thewlis narrowed the gap before halftime, bringing Warrington within two points. However, Castleford withstood sustained pressure and extended their lead through a Chris Atkin penalty and a try by Josh Simm.
Stefan Ratchford scored to reduce the deficit to 20-14 following Alex Mellor’s sin-binning, but Castleford, sitting third-bottom, held on for the victory, marking interim head coach Chris Chester’s first win.
The result leaves Warrington in eighth place, three points outside the play-off spots, having lost ground to Hull FC and Wakefield.
After four consecutive defeats, including losses to the league’s bottom two teams, and without a permanent head coach since Danny McGuire’s departure, Castleford faced an uphill battle when they fell behind early on.
Marc Sneyd’s high kick slipped through Fletcher Rooney’s grasp, allowing Ben Currie to set up Stone for his first Warrington try.
However, the home side responded emphatically, taking the lead within 12 minutes, aided by Warrington’s errors.
Lackluster defense allowed Asi to power over the line, leveling the score. After squandering a two-on-one opportunity, Warrington conceded the lead when a grubber kick eluded Lachlan Fitzgibbon, allowing Lawler to pounce.
Despite withstanding considerable pressure, Castleford’s defense eventually cracked just before halftime when the ball was quickly shifted to the left, creating space for Thewlis to score a fine diving try.
Castleford nearly added a third try before the hooter, but Zac Cini’s surge was stopped just short of the line.
Warrington started the second half with renewed urgency, and Rooney narrowly prevented George Williams from regathering his own kick, before a Williams grubber kick almost found Thewlis in the corner.
After absorbing the pressure, Castleford struck a blow as Atkin’s penalty put them ahead, before Sneyd lost the ball in the tackle, allowing Castleford to break away and score through Simm.
Warrington felt Mellor deserved more than a yellow card for his high tackle which prevented a certain try for Thewlis.
Their hopes were reignited moments later when Ratchford grounded Williams’ grubber kick, pushing aside Innes Senior in the process.
Asi missed a drop-goal attempt to extend his side’s lead, but Castleford held firm against late pressure to secure their fifth win of the season.
Castleford: Rooney, Simm, Cini, L Senior, I Senior, Asin, Atkin, Amone, Lawler, Singleton, Simbiken, Mellor, Westerman.
Interchanges: Wood, Griffin, Robb, Stimson.
Sin-bin: Mellor (67).
Warrington: Dufty, Josh Thewlis, Wrench, King, Jake Thewlis, Williams, Sneyd, Yates, Powell, Vaughan, Stone, Fitzgibbon, Currie.
Interchanges: Philbin, Crowther, Irwin, Ratchford.
Referee: Jack Smith.
Comments can not be loaded
To load Comments you need to enable JavaScript in your browser