Daryl Powell a relieved man after Castleford battle back to beat Salford

Castleford’s first win since they toppled champions St Helens in March revived their top-four hopes, much to Powell’s relief.

Powell said: “There are a lot of things to improve but it was an important win for us. It’s been a real tough re-introduction into the competition for us.

“We had to win tonight, if we had lost it would have been really difficult to start picking the pieces up and finding our way into the top four.

“We did some of the damage to ourselves when we went 18-0 down but it was incredible from there to fight our way back and win a tight, tense, end-to-end game.

“At 18-0 as long as you score next, you can claw your way back in. 24-0 is a tough gig. I just wanted the boys to stay composed.

“We had some key players who really started to step up, I thought Paul McShane and Liam Watts in the pack were outstanding. The second half was just a battle and I’m really pleased to win it.”