Castleford 0 (0)

Wakefield 18 (4)
Tries: Tadulala, Halpenny, Evans, Saxton
Goals: Rooney

Eleven-man Wakefield opened up the Super League relegation battle with a highly-charged win over Castleford.

John Kear's first game in charge of the Wildcats began well as winger Semi Tadulala scored a try early on.

But skipper Monty Betham was red-carded for punching before half-time and the visitors then had to defend robustly.

Colum Halpenny's try from what looked a forward pass eased the pressure and James Evans and Tom Saxton sealed the win before Ned Catic was also sent off.

Wakefield's victory lifts them off the bottom of the table ahead of Catalans Dragons, who are exempt from relegation.

It was a victory that looked unlikely at half-time after Kiwi Betham was dismissed for raining a series of blows on Ryan McGoldrick.

Twelve-man Trinity were struggling to contain the home side after the break and looked to be tiring as the second half wore on.

Adam Fletcher went over for the Tigers but the final pass was ruled forward.

Then Castleford had a lucky escape of their own when Wakefield centre Ryan Atkins touched down only for the video referee to rule it out.

But for all their pressure, Castleford could not break through the resilient Wakefield defence and paid the penalty when Halpenny scored his controversial try with 14 minutes left.

From then on, the Tigers' heads drooped and Wakefield took full advantage with Evans and Saxton - with a superb solo effort - crossing the line.

The away team's delight at victory was tempered by Catic's late dismissal for a head-butt on Danny Sculthorpe.

And with the RFL likely to investigate both red cards, new coach Kear could now be without two key players for vital upcoming matches.

"I think the character of the players had been called into question prior to the game. The best way to answer that was to play the way we did and I think we did it very well.

"We've put the cat among the pigeons. It kept us in reach of a clutch of other clubs. The other teams from seventh place down will be looking over their shoulders."

"Wakefield were hungrier and although we created some opportunities, our ball control was disgraceful - we kept coughing up the ball.

"Wakefield had a lot of enthusiasm but our execution was really terrible. We could not score when their try-line was wide open."

Castleford: Platt, A. Fletcher, Shenton, Viane, Bird, McGoldrick, Lupton, Sculthorpe, Henderson, Nutley, Manu, Ward, R. Fletcher.
Replacements: Handforth, Kain, Huby, Fa'aoso.

Wakefield: Halpenny, Demetriou, Evans, Atkins, Tadulala, Rooney, Jeffries, Korkidas, March, Watene, MacGillivray, Solomona, Betham.
Replacements: Saxton, Elima, Catic, Obst.

Referee: R Silverwood (Dewsbury)