Controlled Castleford beat bottom club Broncos

Betfred Super League

London (8) 20

Tries: Rourke, Lovell, Stock, Bienek Goals: Leyland (2)

Castleford (22) 34

Tries: Hoy, Senior (2), Mellor (2), Milnes Goals: Milnes (5)

Castleford Tigers secured a second successive victory as they beat Super League's bottom side London Broncos in convincing fashion.

The visitors were in control throughout, with Jacob Miller at the heart of everything they did going forward.

London will rue two missed opportunities with knock-ons in front of the try line, despite a second-half rally.

Defeat was their sixth in a row and they are two points adrift of 11th-placed Hull FC.

Castleford stay 10th, trailing Leigh Leopards on points difference.

Castleford have now won five games this season

Castleford took an early lead when Tex Hoy exploited a space at the heart of the London defence from 30 yards before Rowan Milnes converted under the posts.

Just 90 seconds after tackling the Broncos' Robbie Storey on the line, Miller was involved as Innes Senior crossed in the corner for Castleford.

The video referee cleared he was still in play and Milnes converted again.

The TV official denied both Broncos' Lee Kershaw and Castleford's Elie El-Zakhem after they failed to put the ball down over the line, before Josh Rourke met Oli Leyland's searching kick to score for the hosts. Leyland failed to convert from the angle.

Miller found both Alex Mellor, who crossed under duress from the London defence, and Senior for his second of the night, with just under 10 minutes of the first half remaining. After failing with the first kick, Milnes made sure with the second.

London's second score came at the end of a frenetic first half through captain Will Lovell, who powered through from Leyland's pass.

Miller combined with Mellor again 12 minutes later, leaving Milnes with a simple task to convert in front of the posts.

Milnes added another try himself moments later, finishing off a swift Castleford attack before adding the two extra points.

Marcus Stock got the Broncos' third score just shy of the hour, when he got his hand to the ball on the line after a scramble before Leyland converted.

Lewis Bienek powered over for London with 10 minutes to go before Leyland reduced the arrears to 14 points, but Castleford held on to take the win.

CORRECTION 31 July 2024: This story originally incorrectly reported that Corey Hall had a try disallowed for Castleford when it was in fact Elie El-Zakhem.

Castleford Tigers head coach Craig Lingard told BBC Radio Leeds:

“It’s a win, which is what we came down here for. We knew it wouldn’t be a polished game. We didn’t want to use the travel and long day as excuses. We needed to prep for it.

"We’ve been really professional and clinical. I was really pleased with the first 15 minutes, whether we took our foot off the gas I don’t know. London are a dangerous side and I don’t want to be disrespectful.

“London have got good players and they did what we thought they would do, which is never go away.

"Until the last five minutes, I didn’t think we were safe. When Lewis Bienek scored under the sticks, it was a poor try to concede but we’re starting to learn how to win games, fortunately for us.”

London Broncos head coach Mike Eccles:

“It was a horrendous start, we were really poor.

“All the things we did in the first half were fine in isolation because we fixed them all but it was a poor start.

“When we were 6-0 down we didn’t score the try we should of, and the yellow card, missing tackles, there was too much of it.

"We’re human beings and we make errors but there was too much to do.”

London: Rourke, Kershaw, Bassett, Storey, McCann, Leyland, Meadows, Kennedy, Davis, Bienek, Lovell, Adebiyi, Jones

Interchanges: Tison, Butler, Natoli, Stock, Walker

Castleford: Hoy, Qareqare, Hall, Mellor, Senior, Milnes, Miller, Griffin, Horne, Mustapha, El-Zakhem, Lawlor, Westerman

Interchanges: Watts, Robb, Johnson, English, Hall

Referee: James Vella.