Super League: Warrington Wolves 18-19 Castleford Tigers
- Published
Danny Richardson (left) kicked a drop-goal which proved the difference
Betfred Super League |
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Warrington (12) 18 |
Tries: Dufty, Ratchford Goals: Ratchford 2 |
Castleford (0) 19 |
Tries: Mamo, Olpherts 2 Goals: Richardson 3 Drop-goal: Richardson |
Castleford Tigers kept their Super League play-off hopes alive with a comeback victory to deny Warrington a winning home send-off.
Matt Dufty's first try and Stefan Ratchford's score gave Daryl Powell's Wire the lead against his old club.
Ex-Wolves centre Jake Mamo touched down in reply, and Derrell Olpherts scored twice to pull Tigers clear.
Peter Mata'utia scored to bring Wolves within one point but Danny Richardson's earlier drop-kick proved key.
The win sets up Monday's visit of Salford to Castleford perfectly, with the carrot of either side leapfrogging the other into the top-six with a win in the penultimate round of games.
Powell's wish to send the home support away in 2022 with victory looked on course at half-time, having kept out a patched-up Cas and scored two tries, but their second-half stumble ensured a disappointing finish in a disappointing season.
They finished well short of the play-offs, and Wakefield's win over Hull KR means they slip to second-bottom at the tail end of a campaign in which they were expected to challenge.
It started well enough, as Dufty finished off once Josh Thewlis split Cas through the middle and Ratchford tip-toed his way through for a two-score lead.
They continued to throw plenty at Cas, notably late on after Mata'utia powered over to pull within a point, as George Williams missed a drop-goal with seconds to go.
Lee Radford has seen his Castleford side down on numbers in recent weeks but they have shown character to pick themselves up from last week's defeat by Huddersfield.
Mamo got himself to the ball first for his score, via a grubber by Richardson who floated the pass for Olpherts to touch down for his first.
Olpherts' second was from Mamo's short ball after a sliding move, and proved crucial in the end as Warrington mounted a late surge.
Warrington: Dufty; Minikin, Mata'utia, Wardle, Thewlis; Ratchford, Williams; Mulhern, D. Clark, Bullock, Holmes, Harrison, J. Clark
Interchanges: Currie, Walker, Mikaele, Thomas
Castleford: Eden; Faraimo, Sutcliffe, Fonua, Olpherts; O'Brien, Richardson; Massey, McShane, Griffin, Edwards, Mellor, Westerman
Interchanges: Mamo, Lawler, Watts, Martin
Referee: Chris Kendall.