Castleford shock play-off hopefuls Wakefield

Castleford's Elliot Wallis (left) and Wakefield Trinity's Lachlan Walmsley contest a high ball in a hard-fought West Yorkshire derby

Betfred Super League

Castleford (14) 26

Tries: Atkin, Wallis, Wood, Mellor, Horne Goals: Asi, Hoy (2)

Wakefield (10) 22

Tries: Johnstone, Rourke (2), Nikotemo Goals: Lino (3)

Castleford Tigers ended a five-match losing streak to put a dent in Wakefield Trinity's Super League play-off hopes in the Calder Derby.

The home side had a miserable August with heavy losses to Leigh Leopards, Catalans Dragons, Leeds Rhinos and Hull Kingston Rovers but, after Tom Johnstone's early try for Trinity, they took control of the game at the OneBore Stadium.

Tries from Chris Atkin, Elliot Wallis and Sam Wood helped Cas establish a healthy lead before Josh Rourke reduced the lead to four points at half-time.

Rourke struck again early in the second half but Cas rallied again with tries from Alex Mellor and Liam Horne, and then stood firm as Seth Nikotemo scored to set up a big finish.

The defeat leaves Wakefield needing Hull FC to lose their derby with Hull KR on Sunday to retain sixth place.

Wakefield fans had travelled in numbers down the A655 in the hopes of seeing their team open a three-point lead on the seventh-placed Black and Whites, and that looked on the cards as Johnstone nipped in for his 99th try for the club with just six minutes gone.

Cas, however, despite being hit by injuries, found the spirit and resolve that has deserted them in recent games as Atkin dummied and dived over from a scrum close to the line, Wallis added another try, and then Will Tate's offload freed Wood to score as Trinity were reeling.

They gathered their senses as Rourke went over from dummy half just before the break and then caught Mason Lino's kick to score again on the other side of it, with Lino's two conversions edging the visitors ahead.

Mellor exploited a gap to grab the lead for the Tigers once again, and a change of kicker, after Daejarn Asi had missed two conversions paid off as Tex Hoy added the extras and then repeated it as Sam Hall grabbed a loose ball and sent Horne over.

The jubilant home fans still had some nervy moments to endure as Nikotemo picked up and scored when a defender batted down Johnstone's attempted pass, but they saw out the win to haul themselves above another West Yorkshire rival, Huddersfield Giants, into tenth place in the table.

'Very courageous' - reaction

Castleford Tigers interim head coach Chris Chester told BBC Radio Leeds:

"Very courageous. One to 17, every single one of those guys stood up, and those last nine minutes were the longest nine minutes of my life.

"They had a lot of field position, but we just kept coming up with the right answers.

"I'm pleased for the players because it's been a really tough year for a lot of reasons, and we know as a club we have to be a hell of a lot better next year - and I know we will be.

"The boys have given everything for the shirt and the town."

Wakefield Trinity head coach Daryl Powell told BBC Radio Leeds:

"I don't think that at any point in the game we were playing that well. It was scatterbrained how we tried to kick the ball in the first half, and the transitions were really fast.

"Cas played really well. There was loads of energy and emotion around the place and they grabbed hold of that and deserved to win.

"It's disappointing. They out-worked us and were the better team. If we'd nabbed it at the end it would have been a travesty.

"It should have been us that had that energy and go about us, with what we potentially have ahead of us. That's difficult to fathom"

Castleford: Hoy; Tate, Wood, L Senior, Wallis; Asi, Atkin; Stimson, Horne, Lawler, Simbiken, Mellor, Westerman.

Interchanges: Singleton, Griffin, Hall, Robb.

Wakefield: Rourke; Walmsley, Scott, Pratt, Johnstone; Trueman, Lino; McMeeken, Hood, Cozza, Storton, Nikotemo, Pitts.

Interchanges: Griffin, Atoni, Smith, Faatili.

Referee: Aaron Moore.