Round 8
Castleford Tigers 6 l. Wakefield Trinity Wildcats 35

2009 engage English Super League Index [Table] [Draw] [Player Stats] [Club Headlines]

Location: United Kingdom > National > First Grade Competition: engage English Super League

Wakefield finish strong to crush Castleford
Sat April 11, 2009
Source: www.superleague.co.uk

Wakefield Wildcats produced a strong finish to see off rivals Castleford Tigers in a keenly-contested West Yorkshire derby.

The Wildcats, who led just 8-0 at the break, scored 19 points in the final 13 minutes at The Jungle to secure an ultimately comfortable engage Super League win.

Ryan Atkins finished with two tries while Tony Martin, Matt Blaymire and Martin Gleeson also touched down.

Castleford's only try came from Joe Westerman as they rallied early in the second half, but Wakefield proved too strong.

The game had been scoreless throughout the first half hour as both sides were frustrated by a combination of fierce tackling and their own mistakes on a greasy surface.

Castleford actually had the better of the early opportunities to open the scoring with Kirk Dixon pushing a long-range penalty wide and Nathan Massey losing possession close to the Wakefield line.

A Blaymire knock on opened up further opportunities but Brough seized on a wayward pass to keep the Tigers out.

Cas pushed again after opting to run a kickable penalty but they were frustrated when Michael Shenton passed into touch looking for Mike Wainwright.

At the other end, Wakefield forced two drop-outs and Wainwright defused a dangerous Danny Brough bomb to keep the game scoreless.

The breakthrough eventually came just seconds after the introduction of Danny Sculthorpe on the half-hour.

Sculthorpe powered forward from a tap-penalty on his first carry and offloaded to send Martin over.

Brough, after converting, then surprisingly missed a chance to extend the lead from a straight-forward penalty but nailed another attempt on the half-time hooter.

Wakefield carried the momentum into the second period and took a tighter grip on the game when Atkins forced his way over.

Brough had already threatened with a tricky run when Cas were breached again as Atkins took a Brad Drew pass at speed and twisted over.

Brough again converted but Castleford responded well to force the visitors to drop out twice from under their posts.

The pressure paid off as Rangi Chase pierced the Wakefield line with a delicate kick and Westerman pounced.

Dixon's goal cut the deficit to 14-6 but the Wildcats then found another gear.

Brough left the field but Martin proved an able goalkicking deputy when he added another two points after a high tackle on Blaymire.

Sam Obst then went close before Drew's kick rebounded off the post and Blaymire pounced.

After receiving a controversial penalty, Wakefield then finished the game as a contest as Obst put in a fine kick for Gleeson to slide over.

Martin converted both but Brough was soon back in the action and added a late drop goal.

Wakefield had time for one more attack and scored again through Atkins in the closing moments with Brough adding his fourth goal.

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