© SportingLife.com 2002
Castleford romped to a 13-try victory to end Salford's mini-revival after two wins in a row.
The Tigers romped into a 24-0 lead midway through the first half and led 36-4 at the break.
Cas notched six tries in the first 40 minutes before adding seven more after the interval.
It was the perfect boost for Castleford before next Saturday's Kellogg's Nutri-Grain Challenge Cup semi-final against Wigan at Leeds.
Castleford went ahead after seven minutes with Mark Lennon's first try of the season.
Ryan Hudson, who had an outstanding match, bagged the second and third tries before Michael Smith crossed.
Danny Orr, the Cas skipper, carved out the opening for Wayne Bartrim to go over before Orr went off to be replaced by Barrie-Jon Mather.
French winger Olivier Elima notched the sixth try just before half-time with Salford's only touchdown before the break coming from Danny Arnold.
Lee Harland continued the procession in the 44th minute with Bartrim landing his seventh goal from seven attempts before being rested.
Dean Sampson was sin-binned for a professional foul, but Castleford still piled on the pressure.
Further tries followed from Darren Rogers (2), sub Watene Godwin (2), Mitch Healey and Mather, with Lennon booting four goals.
Salford skipper Bobbie Goulding did cross twice for tries he converted in the second half, but it was an embarrassing show by the totally outclassed Reds.
Castleford boss Graham Steadman saluted his side's 13-try show at Salford.
He said: "It's very pleasing because everything we've spoken about in the last few weeks came to fruition.
"It was the performance we wanted before meeting Wigan in the (Kellogg's Nutri-Grain Challenge) Cup semi-final and I'm pleased the way the guys finished Salford off."
Steve McCormack said: "We're very disappointed, especially after our win at Halifax.
"Our defence was diabolical, but Castleford were on fire.
"We must learn from this defeat and I feel sorry for the supporters who paid their money."
© SportingLife.com 2002 By Ian Laybourn, PA Sport
A try two minutes from time from Great Britain centre Gary Connolly clinched a nailbiting victory over Castleford and brought Wigan their first Challenge Cup final appearance for four years.
The Warriors were clinging to a tenuous six-point lead for most of a tense second half before Connolly forced his way over from close range to earn his side a trip to Murrayfield on April 27.
The Warriors will meet the winners of tomorrow's second semi between St Helens and Leeds in Edinburgh, but will surely not face a more difficult test than today.
Coach Stuart Raper, under fire after an inauspicious start to the season, was more relieved than delighted at the conclusion of a match which, after a fast and furious first 60 minutes, proved as much a test of stamina as skill.
For Castleford, who had given their all in a tremendous game, the final scenes were reminiscent of their heart-breaking semi-final defeat by London Broncos at the same Headingley venue three years earlier.
They overcame a jittery opening but made a nonsense of their 20-1 odds by storming into a 10-8 lead with some inspired attacking play based around the storming running of man of the match Michael Smith and creative half-backs Danny Orr and Mitch Healey.
Wigan, lacking three regulars through injury and illness, raced into an 8-0 lead inside 12 minutes after dominating the opening exchanges largely through the prompting of scrum-half Adrian Lam.
Full-back Kris Radlinski was denied a try by a high bounce of the ball after Lam had split the Tigers defence wide open but Wigan displayed clinical finishing moments later to score the first try.
Kiwi Test prop Craig Smith brushed off the attempted challenge of Dale Fritz inside his own half and offloaded superbly from the subsequent tackle to get Lam into space and hooker Terry Newton was up in support to touch down.
Andy Farrell kicked the conversion and stretched his side's lead with a penalty after Dean Sampson was pulled up for interference.
But once Castleford found their composure, they began to create all sorts of problems for the Cup favourites.
Second rower Smith, one of the most improved forwards of Super League, powered his way over on 15 minutes after Orr had slipped the ball from a two-man tackle and Wayne Bartrim added the goal to make it 8-6.
Bartrim then went off with a shoulder injury and Wigan lost winger Brett Dallas for a spell after he clashed heads pulling off a try-saving tackle on Castleford's former Wigan centre Andy Johnson.
Wigan, starved of possession, were clearly rocking at that stage and, when Newton gifted the Tigers the ball by fumbling deep inside his own half, the Yorkshiremen made them pay.
Loose forward Ryan Hudson took a pass from Orr and tore through the tackle of Connolly to touch down for his side's second try, although deputy marksman Orr missed with the relatively easy conversion.
Castleford piled on the pressure with a successful 40-20 kick from Healey but the Australian undid his good work by sending out a loose pass which was scooped up by Wigan centre David Hodgson 10 metres from his own line.
He went 50 metres before offloading to the supporting Dallas who, fresh from the treatment table, sprinted the remaining 40 metres for a glorious try, which Farrell improved.
The second half continued at the same frantic pace and Castleford delighted their big following with a bewildering passage of play in which they kept the ball alive in breathtaking fashion.
Play swung from end to end but defences held sway until Connolly came up with that last-gasp winner.
© SportingLife.com 2002
Hull roared into third place in the Super League with their third successive victory, running in eight tries to topple Castleford.
This was only their second win against the Tigers in their last seven meetings - but on this occasion they were a class apart.
Three tries in the closing 10 minutes of the first half sickened Castleford and gave Hull a massive 30-6 lead.
It was a victory which delighted coach Shaun McRae, who praised his side for their attacking flair when he said: "I thought we stretched and attacked Castleford's defence with a lot of confidence.
"Undoubtedly our first half performance set up the victory and I was pleased we also won the second half because sometimes you tend to turn totally off after dominating one half of the game."
However, it was a sorry story from the Castleford side as their coach Graham Steadman revealed skipper and influential stand-off Danny Orr could be out for some time.
Orr had had an influential opening for 15 minutes but was then carried off and Steadman said: "It's not looking good for Danny. He has injured the lower part of his spine and is in a lot of discomfort.
"Our medical staff are checking him over and we will send him for an X-ray to determine the full extent of the problem."
Hull began their victory march in the third minute when Graham MacKay scored the first of his two tries but Castleford hit back six minutes later through Michael Smith.
Winger Matt Crowther put Hull back in front with the first of his two tries and then Kiwi Toa Kohe-Love turned the game with a 90-yard solo effort.
Jason Smith and Steve Prescott added further tries before the break then MacKay and Crowther added their second before Kohe-Love got his second but in between Wayne Godwin and Dean Sampson had scored for Castleford.
Crowther added eight goals to his two tries for a man of the match performance.
By Ian Laybourn, PA Sport
Castleford staged a magnificent fightback in a memorable Super League clash to deny St Helens second place in the table.
The beaten Cup finalists looked set for a convincing victory after racing into an 18-0 lead after only 17 minutes of Tuesday night's rearranged match.
But the Tigers staged a remarkable rally to expose Saints' vulnerability out wide to claim their first home win of Super League VII at the fifth attempt.
Saints, lacking four regulars, were well beaten in the end but there was little sign of the drama to come as they established an early stranglehold on the game.
They turned on the style to blitz their Yorkshire opponents in an opening quarter which belonged almost exclusively to Tommy Martyn, who bossed the show just 11 days after his largely anonymous appearance at Murrayfield.
The makeshift scrum-half, a splendid deputy for the injured Sean Long, split the Tigers defence after only four minutes with a superb sidestep to send Martin Gleeson over for the first of his two tries.
Martyn kept the pressure on the home side with two magnificent 40-20 kicks and came up with a vital interception during Castleford's comeback.
Loose forward Peter Shiels and stand-off Paul Sculthorpe added other tries and Sculthorpe kicked all three conversions as Saints built up a comfortable lead.
Castleford coach Graham Steadman had reacted to his side's heavy defeat by Bradford by relegating high-profile Australians Mitch Healey and Wayne Bartrim to the bench but both were called into action inside 20 minutes - and both played prominent roles in the transformation.
Healey intercepted a Sculthorpe pass on halfway to set up a try for centre Barrie-Jon Mather and provided more width to Castleford's game which helped produce two touchdowns for left winger Darren Rogers, taking his tally for the season to nine.
Bartrim kicked two of the conversions and, despite a reshuffle caused by injury to Richard Gay, they sensationally took the lead on 44 minutes thanks to some enterprising play and breathtaking handling on the last tackle.
The ever-dangerous Smith was brought down just short of the line in the left-hand corner and the Tigers produced some incisive passing to create an overlap on the right, with Kyle Warren sending Mather in for his second try.
Mather, making his first start of the season, then intercepted a pass from St Helens skipper Chris Joynt as the visitors mounted a ferocious fightback of their own.
Twice Castleford lost possession in their own 30-metre area and it proved costly as Shiels and Paul Wellens worked the ball out wide, where Gleeson crossed for his second try.
That restored Saints' lead but it was short-lived as Castleford maintained their momentum and panic set in among the visitors' ranks.
A superb offload by evergreen prop Dean Sampson got skipper Danny Orr into his stride and he cleverly put substitute Andy Johnson away for a crucial score.
The Tigers made sure of an upset victory when Saints left winger Anthony Stewart lost possession in a gang-tackle from Mather and Warren, leaving Bartrim with an unopposed run to the line for a try which brought up his 100th point of the season.
Impressive loose forward Ryan Hudson then put the seal on a magnificent win when he forced his way over his side's seventh try two minutes from the end.
By Ian Laybourn, PA Sport
Ace marksman Paul Deacon kicked eight goals from as many attempts to bring up his century of points for the season and help Bradford Bulls pull four points clear at the top of Super League.
Castleford went down to their fifth defeat in six games but they made the near-full strength champions work hard for their eighth win in nine matches in a defence-dominated match at a damp Jungle.
Both sides struggled to cope with a slippery surface and chances were few and far between until Bradford ground down their gritty opponents and two late tries gave them a flattering margin of victory.
The Bulls were indebted to Deacon, who succeeded with all his four penalty attempts and also improved tries from centre Lee Gilmour, substitute Nathan McAvoy (2) and skipper Robbie Paul.
Bradford looked the sharper side but the Tigers, rejuvenated by a 12-day break, gave nothing away in defence for the first hour and for long periods looked capable of springing a shock.
In a first half dominated by the boot, the Tigers would have been level had Wayne Bartrim kicked his goals but he managed just one success from his three attempts, one of which rebounded back off an upright.
The breakthrough for Bradford came on the stroke of half-time when Castleford found themselves short of numbers on the right and Gilmour took an excellent return pass from winger Lesley Vainikolo to plunge over at the corner.
Castleford quickly bounced back with a superbly-crafted score of their own.
Skipper Danny Orr took a pass from substitute Andy Lynch on halfway to pierce the Bulls defence and he judged his kick to perfection for left winger Darren Rogers to finish clinically at the corner.
Bartrim's touchline conversion narrowed the gap to just four points but the Tigers' good work was undone within five minutes when winger Waine Pryce spoiled an otherwise splendid performance by failing to clear Deacon's kick over the try line, leaving McAvoy with the simplest of tries.
Deacon maintained his 100 per cent accuracy with the difficult conversion to take his points tally for the season to 99 and he added a 64th-minute penalty to bring up his century and put his side into a 20-8 lead.
The Tigers almost scored a second try when centre Michael Eagar slid across the line but he lost control of the ball in Tevita Vaikona's tackle and that proved to be their last chance.
Paul grabbed a solo try and Vainikolo produced the highlight of the match when he slid onto a loose ball and quickly turned defence into attack with an amazing run up the touchline before releasing McAvoy for his second try.
By Andy Hampson, PA Sport
Halifax succeeded where St Helens failed as they held off a Castleford fightback at The Shay.
The Tigers went into the game on a high after overturning an 18-0 deficit to beat Saints in midweek but they found the struggling Blue Sox a tougher nut to crack.
Tries from Colum Halpenny, Robbie Beckett and Andrew Dunemann settled the game in the Blue Sox's favour but the match was as much about their defensive resilience.
Time after time they denied the Tigers, who had Wayne Bartrim's five goals to thank for keeping them in contention.
Michael Smith and Danny Orr did manage to cross late on but Halifax held on to claim a well-deserved Super League win.
Bartrim scored the first points of the afternoon when he knocked over an eighth-minute penalty but the Tigers' lead was shortlived as Halpenny raced in for the opening try at the other end.
Centre David Woods raced between Barrie-Jon Mather and Waine Pryce to create the opening before offloading superbly to Halpenny after having his heels clipped.
Danny Tickle converted from in front of the posts but the Blue Sox were pegged back as Bartrim landed two more penalties to restore parity.
Halifax responded swiftly and edged back in front when the fast hands of Dunemann and Shayne McMenemy combined to send Beckett over another Tickle-converted try in the corner.
Top-scorer Beckett thought he had another in the same spot moments later after neat interplay between Gavin Clinch and Stuart Donlan but his effort was ruled out for an earlier knock-on.
Another Bartrim penalty reduced the arrears as Cas fought back towards but Halifax showed the same prowess in defence as they had in attack to deny them the lead.
Kyle Warren and Darren Rogers both looked certain scorers for the visitors as Cas twice broke the Blue Sox line but outstanding tackles by Jason Flowers and Beckett respectively denied both.
Cas continued to apply the pressure after the restart but Halifax again held firm and when the Tigers did manage to break through a Warren knock on cost them four points.
The Blue Sox's application was rewarded as they hit back to extend their lead with an opportunist try from Dunemann 15 minutes from time.
Capitalising on a Tigers error inside their own 20, Dunemann spotted a gap and jinked his way clear to cross for a decisive try which Karle Hammond improved.
It could have been more for Halifax but for another disallowed try, referee Richard Silverwood this time ruling that Hammond had passed forwards in releasing Hammond down the line.
Daryl Cardiss also threatened the Cas line with a weaving run but was halted by a high tackle from Michael Eagar, who found himself placed on report. But Castleford were far from done and came back at the Blue Sox in a frenetic closing spell.
Substitute Wayne Godwin went under the posts but was held up by resolute Blue Sox defending before Orr's jinking run pulled a try back in injury time.
Bartrim again goaled to bring the Tigers within a point but Halifax managed to cling on with Hammond's injury-time penalty miss mattering little.