St Helens came from behind away from home yesterday to beat a depleted Castleford Tigers team and return to within two points of the Super League top four.
Castleford were vastly improved from the side who suffered a humiliating 58-16 defeat by Hull KR as they shrugged off the absence of eight senior players to lead 20-12 after an hour, but they fell agonisingly short.
Daryl Powell, the Castleford coach, was forced to reshuffle just before kick-off after Jake Webster, the centre, pulled out in the warm-up. Grant Millington, the prop, started at stand off. Despite that, they went ahead after 12 minutes, when Joel Monaghan collected Luke Gale’s towering kick to score, but Saints drew level when Joe Greenwood darted in.
Denny Solomona hit back for Castleford while the influential James Roby was receiving treatment for a badly bleeding nose but when he returned, Roby was involved in the build-up for Shannon McDonell’s try shortly after half-time.
Castleford struck twice in quick succession, through Mike McMeeken and Jy Hitchcox, but that was when St Helens came to life. Kyle Amor found his way across the try line before Greenwood grabbed his second. And Jonny Lomax added the final try, Walsh converting his fifth goal to wrap up the scoring.