Daryl Powell a relieved man after Castleford battle back to beat Salford

Correspondent

Castleford coach Daryl Powell was relieved to get back to winning ways after watching his side edge an 11-try thriller with a 37-30 victory over Salford at Headingley.

The Tigers were heading a fourth successive Super League defeat – for the first time under Powell – when the Red Devils stormed into an 18-0 lead after 11 minutes thanks to tries from Kevin Brown, Niall Evalds and Joey Lussick.Powell’s men found a purple patch and hooker Paul McShane scored twice in two minutes as they went 24-18 in front but they needed a late try from substitute Grant Millington to finally see off their opponents.

Castleford’s first win since they toppled champions St Helens in March revived their top-four hopes, much to Powell’s relief.

Powell said: “There are a lot of things to improve but it was an important win for us. It’s been a real tough re-introduction into the competition for us.

“We had to win tonight, if we had lost it would have been really difficult to start picking the pieces up and finding our way into the top four.

“We did some of the damage to ourselves when we went 18-0 down but it was incredible from there to fight our way back and win a tight, tense, end-to-end game.

“At 18-0 as long as you score next, you can claw your way back in. 24-0 is a tough gig. I just wanted the boys to stay composed.

“We had some key players who really started to step up, I thought Paul McShane and Liam Watts in the pack were outstanding. The second half was just a battle and I’m really pleased to win it.”

 

Listen to The Final Hooter podcast, featuring exclusive interviews, every week. SUBSCRIBE to Love Rugby League on Apple Podcasts.