Super League: Castleford Tigers 18-8 Catalans Dragons - hosts bolster top-six aims

Mahe Fonua (right) celebrated his 200th game of a fine career

Castleford Tigers strengthened their top-six hopes with victory over Catalans Dragons, who remain in the Super League top four.

Gareth O'Brien's try and three goals, along with Greg Eden's score, gave Castleford a 14-4 half-time lead with Sam Tomkins touching down in reply.

O'Brien added two further goals after the break to keep Catalans at bay.

Steve McNamara's Dragons kept the pressure on, with Joe Chan's try, but could not overhaul the Tigers' lead.

This result gives Castleford a four-point buffer on the chasing pack of Salford, Hull FC and Hull KR in the table, despite Leeds' win over Rovers keeping them just a point behind.

Catalans had stayed in England after their win at Wakefield a week ago in order to cut down on travel time, but found a patched up Castleford in stubborn mood.

With Paul McShane operating in the halves and a reshuffled unit down on numbers, Cas found the breakthrough when O'Brien shimmied through to score and Eden punished a handling error to extend the lead.

While Sam Kasiano passed up an opportunity to score having wreaked his usual havoc in the middle, Tomkins, who along with Mitchell Pearce was among the key personnel lifting the Dragons squad, jinked across before the break to give the visitors a foothold.

Chan reduced the lead just after the break, as the Dragons threw their full weight at the hosts, but they were able to hold firm.

Bureta Faraimo might have made the scoreline even more comfortable for the home support, but his late intercept chance was chalked off for a double movement.

Castleford coach Lee Radford:

"It's a massive result and credit goes to our medical staff for getting some blokes that didn't look like playing out onto the pitch. They did a terrific job for us.

"Some blokes played with painkilling injections and I'm praying it's not set them back for next week or beyond.

"Paul McShane epitomised the performance for us. He was out of position and that's not something we want to continue with but it was unbelievable effort from him.

"Some of the efforts the boys put in, having to scramble like they did, was pretty special and I've just told them that, if we can continue to turn up with that attitude towards defending, we will do OK this year."

Catalans coach Steve McNamara:

"Going 14-0 down meant there was a lot to do but it was only two tries and we had an opportunity to do it.

"The game was there to be won and I thought we were a lot better in the second half but we needed to be patient and we weren't.

"There was a lack of discipline with the ball - our completion rate was horrendous. We had 20 sets in second half compared to their 11 but we didn't put any sustained pressure on the opposition.

"I'm happy with the effort with the personnel we had - we had some young boys come in and they've played two games in five days."

Castleford: Eden; Faraimo, Sutcliffe, Fonua, Olpherts; McShane, O'Brien; Lawler, Milner, Griffin, Mellor, Edwards, Westerman.

Interchanges: Smith, Martin, Matagi, Qareqare.

Sin-bin: Matagi (78).

Catalans: Tomkins; Davies, Whare, May, Franco; Pearce, Drinkwater; Seguier, McIlorum, Napa, Chan, Jullien, Da Costa.

Interchanges: Mourgue, Cozza, Le Cam, Kasiano.

Referee: Tom Grant.

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