Castleford (6) 40 Tries: Dixon 2, Wainwright, Widders 2, McGoldrick, Hudson Goals: Westerman 5, Dixon
Wakefield (10) 16 Tries: Morrison 2, Blaymire Goals: Cooke 2
 Kirk Dixon put 10 points past the Wakefield defence |
Castleford staged a second-half comeback to beat Wakefield and leapfrog their local rivals into the Super League play-off places. The visitors edged the first half thanks to tries from Matt Blaymire and Glenn Morrison, with Kirk Dixon opening Castleford's account. Cas ran riot as Dixon added to tries from Ryan McGoldrick, Dean Widders, Michael Wainwright and Ryan Hudson. Morrison ran in his second but it was a mere consolation for sorry Wakefield. Although the Wildcats took the lead through Morrison on eight minutes, Dixon equalised shortly after and things looked to be going from bad to worse when they had winger Sean Gleeson sin-binned for dissent 10 minutes before half-time. Yet Wakefield played their best rugby while down to 12 men and regained the lead through Blaymire's well-taken try seven minutes before the whistle. Only two points separated the evenly-matched sides until the 58-minute mark when Widders touched down Rangi Chase's grubber kick. The stand-off was involved again to help winger Dixon finish strongly at the corner for his second.  | 606: DEBATE |
Left winger Wainwright got on the end of a Brett Ferres pass to extend the Tigers advantage to 18-10. Widders then dummied his way past Daryl Millard five minutes later to claim his second try. And there was no way back for Wakefield, despite a second try from the battling Morrison which was converted by Paul Cooke, as the home side finished in total command with two more tries in the last eight minutes. England centre Michael Shenton carved out a try for full-back McGoldrick and skipper Hudson supplied the finishing touches with a seventh touchdown a minute from the end. Joe Westerman kicked five goals from six attempts before limping off, leaving Dixon to add another conversion. The win for Cas means they edge Wakefield out of eighth spot in the league with just five games to go.
Castleford coach Terry Matterson: "What was really important was not just the win but the points for and against. "We had been pretty poor in that area but this is a big turn-around. We go two points ahead of Wakefield and we're nearly level on for and against and it could come down to that at the end. "We've edged our noses in front and, with five games to go, we've given ourselves a chance of finishing in the top eight." Wakefield coach John Kear: "We don't deserve to be in the play-offs if we play like that. It's a simple stark fact. "The league ladder won't lie at the end of the season. We will be where we deserve to be. "Of the two teams today playing for the top eight, it was obvious that Cas were far superior to ourselves."
Castleford: McGoldrick, Dixon, Shenton, Ferres, Wainwright, Widders, Chase, Huby, Hudson, Jackson, Snitch, Clayton, Westerman. Replacements: Sargent, Higgins, Jones, Thompson. Wakefield: Blaymire, Gleeson, Murphy, Millard, Blanch, Cooke, Jeffries, Leaeno, Rinaldi, Moore, Demetriou, Johnson, Morrison. Replacements: Korkidas, Henderson, King, Leo-Latu. Referee: James Child (Dewsbury) Att: 8,517
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