Wigan 30-22 Castleford: Warriors come from behind to maintain top spot

Wigan came from 12-0 down to beat Castleford 30-22 and maintain their position at the top of Super League.

It was a third straight win for the Warriors since the restart, while for the Tigers it was a third consecutive loss.

Tries from recent signing Gareth O’Brien and Nathan Massey had Castleford in front after 22 minutes, but Sam Powell managed to just force his way over from close to the line three minutes later.

They backed that up with a second try through Joe Burgess, and then a last tackle play orchestrated by Powell created space for Ben Flower to cross for 16-12.

There was a lengthy stoppage at the start of the second half after James Clare suffered an injury in a tackle from Morgan Smithies, who had earlier been fortunate not to be reprimanded for an apparent headbutt on Grant Millington, and the forward this time was sinbinned for his actions.

That gave Castleford impetus and they made their man advantage pay moments later, winger Derrell Olpherts walking in on the right.

They couldn’t do any more damage though, and just moments before Smithies return, Zak Hardaker edged Wigan 18-16 in front with a penalty.

Excellent back-rower Liam Farrell gave some breathing space with a try shortly after hour, and when Joe Bullock crashed over with 11 minutes to play, it was all but done.

Although Hardaker failed to deal with a kick in-goal which enabled Michael Shenton to steal in for a try, it was too little too late.