Luke Gale kicks Castleford to victory against Wakefield
Luke Gale put in a stellar performance with the boot in extremely wet conditions to help Castleford edge past rivals Wakefield.
Wakefield coach Chris Chester made two changes to his side that lost at Warrington last week. Captain Danny Kirmond and Ryan Hampshire were replaced by David Fifita and Kyle Wood.
Daryl Powell made three changes to his Castleford side that won at Leeds last time out. Skipper Michael Shenton, Oliver Holmes and Gadwin Springer came in for Jy Hitchcox, Nathan Massey and James Green.
It was a fiery start to the game at Wakefield’s Mobile Rocket Stadium. Anthony England crashed over the line for Wakefield in the 12th minute, but the video referee chalked it off due to him knocking on just before going over.
And Trinity conceded two penalties in quick succession shortly after, which Castleford took advantage of. Ben Roberts slipped Mike McMeeken through a gap to score the opening try. Gale converted to put his side in a 6-0 lead after 16 minutes.
James Clare thought he had scored for the Tigers midway through the first half, but it was disallowed due to his left foot being in touch.
England international Gale added a trademark drop-goal from 30 metres out to put Castleford 7-0 in front at the break.
The conditions certainly took its toll on the quality of the game in the second half, but the effort from both teams was second to none.
Wakefield hit back on the hour mark and made the last 20 minutes of the game very interesting. Ben Jones-Bishop raced 40 metres against Clare to latch onto a kick from Finn to score. The conversion was good from Finn, Wakefield 6-7 Castleford.
Gale extended Castleford’s narrow lead just a few minutes later. Trinity were caught offside, so the Tigers opted to take the two. Gale added the penalty goal to put the visitors in a 9-6 advantage.
In the 73rd minute, Wakefield were caught offside again. Gale added the penalty goal from bang in front of the sticks to put Castleford 11-6 to the good.
Tom Johnstone crossed the whitewash for Wakefield in the closing stages but it was ruled out by the video referee because he didn’t manage to get the ball down.
It was a pulsating last couple of minutes, but Castleford managed to hang on for an 11-6 victory over arch rivals Wakefield.
Wakefield: 1 Grix; 5 Jones-Bishop, 4 Lyne, 3 Tupou, 2 Johnstone; 6 Miller, 7 Finn; 10 England, 13 Randell, 17 Huby, 14 Horo, 11 Ashurst, 16 Arona. Subs: 9 Wood, 8 Fifita, 20 Hirst, 15 Pauli.
Castleford: 21 Trueman; 2 Minikin, 3 Webster, 4 Shenton, 26 Clare; 1 Roberts, 7 Gale; 18 Cook, 9 McShane, 10 Millington, 11 Holmes, 12 McMeeken, 13 Milner. Subs: 6 Ellis, 8 Moors, 17 Foster, 19 Springer.
Starman: Luke Gale’s kicking game was on point and won Castleford the game, but Kyle Wood had an outstanding game for Wakefield as well.
Attendance: 7,020