© SportingLife.com 2002
The Tigers completed a fine second half comeback at The Jungle to stun Halifax and pick up both Super League points.
Cas trailed 14-8 at the break but did not concede a point in the second half, crossing for six tries to their opponents' two as they extended their lead over the ninth-placed Blue Sox to six points.
The turnaround - aided by two tries apiece from Waine Pryce and Michael Smith and seven goals from Wayne Bartrim, enabled Tigers to avenge their 19-18 defeat at Halifax three months ago, and stay in the hunt for a top six finish.
Castleford's Andy Lynch sent fellow prop Nathan Sykes over after seven minutes, but referee Karl Kirkpatrick ruled the pass was forward.
Both sides made plenty of errors in an untody opening spell before the Togers broke the deadlock in the 12th minute when second rower Mike Smith plunged over for a try Bartrim improved.
The Blue Sox levelled four minutes later when Robbie Beckett shot in for a try which teenage scrum-half Liam Finn improved.
Debutant Finn was on target again four minutes later to edge Halifax ahead but the Tigers squared matters with Bartrim's second goal after John Lawless was penalised for a high tackle.
Castleford wasted two excellent chances in three minutes when Barrie Jon Mather threw out a bad pass to Jon Wells and Lee Harland failed to take Danny Orr's pass.
The Blue Sox then regained the lead in the 31st minute when Lawless went over and Finn tagged on his third goal.
An incident in which Halifax full-back Stuart Donlan was flattened was put on report, before the Tigers levelled at 14-14 two minutes into the second half when full-back Darren Rogers went over.
The home side grabbed the lead four minutes later when winger Pryce rounded off a lovely move.
Halifax were out of luck in the 54th minute when Finn struck a post with a penalty goal.
Pryce then struck again in the 64th minute when Michael Eagar made the opening for him to collect his second touchdown.
Eagar and Smith added further tries as the Tigers ran out easy winners in the closing stages.
Referee Kirkpatrick also put on report a second-half incident in which Halifax substitute Jamie Bloem was allegedly bitten by a Castleford player.
Castleford kept alive their Super League top six hopes with a hard-earned victory at relegation-threatened Warrington.
Castleford went ahead after only four minutes when Danny Orr sent Michael Eagar over with Wayne Bartrim landing the first of three goals before the break.
When Lee Briers kicked dead from the re-start Bartrim made Warrington pay by booting the penalty from halfway.
Castleford opened up a 14-0 lead when winger Waine Pryce collected Orr's long pass to go over.
Warrington had to wait until the 18th minute for their first points with a penalty from Briers.
Then Nathan Wood went over for their first try just before the break with Briers' penalty making the interval score 14-8.
Warrington had a Wood try disallowed for offside before the Tigers took charge when Orr was again the provider for Andy Johnson to dummy his way over.
The Wolves gave themselves some hope when Briers dummied his way over but the Welsh stand-off missed the simple conversion.
Orr was wide with a drop goal attempt before youngster Wayne Godwin went over from dummy half in the last minute with Bartrim adding his fourth goal from five attempts.
© SportingLife.com 2002
Full-back Darren Rogers scored two tries as the red-hot Tigers kept up their pursuit of a play-off place by hammering Halifax.
The Blue Sox have won just one of their previous 10 games and are in real danger of being sucked into the relegation dogfight at the foot of Super League.
They never recovered from a blistering opening spell by Castleford, who scored 26 points in as many minutes without reply.
As for Halifax, they still have to play the bottom three of Wakefield, Warrington and Salford - and on this evidence it is hard to see where the next win is coming from for a side hampered by injury and low confidence.
Wayne Bartrim's sixth-minute penalty set the ball rolling for Graham Steadman's side and they extended their advantage soon after when Danny Orr's dummy left Andy Hobson grabbing at fresh air and he put Michael Eager in at the corner.
Bartrim added the goal and from the kick-off Castleford attacked again.
Ryan Hudson gathered the ball off the floor and passed to Eager, as the defence came across he chipped ahead and Waine Pryce beat Danny Halliwell in the race to the corner.
Halifax fell further behind as Hobson lost the ball in a tackle with Eager on the Tigers' line and Rogers picked up the ball to run 95 metres and score at the other end.
Two minutes later Rogers went over again as he stepped through a weak challenge by Jamie Thackray to score a simple try with Bartrim's goal making it five out of five for the hooker.
David Woods pulled a try back for Halifax, but as half-time approached Castleford scored again.
As James Gannon dropped the ball on the first tackle, it was gathered by the superb Eager who broke deep into the Halifax half.
He was tackled, but the ball was moved right where Hudson dived over, with Orr adding the goal.
Orr's penalty extended the Tigers' lead before Halifax stand-off Andrew Dunemann broke from the base of the scrum to score in the corner, with Gavin Clinch adding the extras.
But Castleford were not finished as Orr's short pass created a try for Kyle Warren.
Halifax full-back Stuart Donlan scored a late consolation for Halifax, again converted by Clinch.
David Woods had a late score ruled out for the Blue Sox, but by then Castleford were long home and dry.
Afterwards under-pressure Halifax coach Steve Linnane accused clubs of "tapping" his players as they battle to avoid relegation.
The Blue Sox chief, has seen his side lose nine out of their last 10 games but blames off-field distractions for some of their problems.
"There are a number of players in the club who are coming off contract and I know that a number of them have been illegally approached by other clubs in the competition.
"There has been a lot of unsettling talk in the last couple of weeks and it has affected us but proving it is a difficult thing.
"We have no control over the teams below us and what they do, all we can do is concentrate on our own performance."
Castleford Tigers assistant coach Gary Mercer was delighted with his side's performance as he made a winning return to The Shay.
Mercer was axed as the Blue Sox coach midway through last season and has since forged a successful partnership with Graham Steadman at The Jungle.
"To be honest I was quite surprised how much leeway they gave us especially at the start of the game.
"I have never been to The Shay and seen teams take 20 points off Halifax like that.
"We created opportunities and scored them. We are looking for the top six but trying not to think about it too much, just taking it game by game."
© SportingLife.com 2002 By Ian Laybourn, PA Sport
Super League champions Bradford Bulls are facing a crisis of confidence after losing back-to-back matches for the first time for almost two years.
Championship dark horses Castleford added to their misery by pulling off a stunning seven-try victory at The Jungle to climb back into seventh place in the table with a fourth-successive win.
The Bulls, clearly suffering a hangover from their 50-22 humiliation at the hands of St Helens nine days earlier, now trail Saints by two points after hitting their worst form of the season a month before the play-offs.
Play-off seeking Cas, who have beaten St Helens and taken a point from Wigan at The Jungle this season, claimed their best scalp yet to signal their own title aspirations.
The in-form Tigers, who avenged a 32-8 home defeat by the Bulls in May, were in control for virtually the whole match and shook the champions with the ferocity of their tackling.
Although they had the encouragement of a penalty goal from Paul Deacon and a disallowed try from Scott Naylor, Bradford looked a disjointed outfit from the kick-off and quickly found themselves 12-2 down.
Winger Waine Pryce grabbed the first try on 12 minutes after Danny Orr's long ball exposed a gap on the Bradford right flank and scrum-half Mitch Healey added a second nine minutes later, scooping up the ball after Bradford full-back Michael Withers had been deceived by a wicked bounce.
With Wayne Bartrim in the sin bin - along with Bradford second-rower Jamie Peacock - for holding down in the tackle, skipper Orr took over the goalkicking and put over both conversions.
It could have been even worse for the champions, with Tigers centre Barrie-Jon Mather having a try disallowed, and the visitors lost influential hooker James Lowes with a badly-cut head on 26 minutes.
They pulled a try back when substitute Leon Pryce forced his way over from Robbie Paul's pass close to the line but opportunist tries either side of half-time from Andy Johnson and Jon Wells put them firmly in command.
And two further quickfire tries from Mather and man-of-the-match Orr, who opened up the Bradford defence with an outrageous dummy and sprinted 40 metres to the line, enabled the Tigers to open up a 32-8 lead after only 54 minutes.
The return of Lowes helped settle the champions and Deacon forced his way over for a consolation try but Castleford were simply irresistible and Orr's sweetly-timed pass got second-rower Lee Harland through a gap for his side's seventh try.
Bartrim kicked his third conversion and also put over three penalties as the champions lost their discipline as well as their composure and finished a well-beaten side for the second time in a week.
© SportingLife.com 2002
Wakefield's relegation worries deepened with an eight-try hammering at The Jungle.
The in-form Tigers, beaten only once in their last eight matches, produced a blistering second-half show after being only 10-2 up at half-time.
Their try spree was led by young winger Waine Pryce who scored four touchdowns in a 15-minute spell shortly after half-time.
Former Castleford half-back Brad Davis put Wakefield ahead with a 12th-minute penalty goal after the Tigers were caught offside in front of their own posts.
Castleford got their first try five minutes later by making Wildcats full-back Martyn Holland pay for fumbling Danny Orr's high kick.
The Tigers scored from the resulting scrum when Dale Fritz went in from a play-the-ball close to the line.
The home side stretched their lead 10 minutes later when Wakefield were caught out again at a scrum when their former player Ryan Hudson sent Jon Wells tearing in for a try that Wayne Bartrim improved.
The Wildcats, without injured player-coach Adrian Vowles, soon fell further behind in the second half.
Orr's kick to the corner was deflected off a Wakefield player and the ball fell nicely for Pryce to score his first.
He grabbed his second four minutes later from another kick to the same corner, this time by Hudson.
The wingman completed his hat-trick when he chased Orr's kick downfield.
Orr then supplied the final pass as Pryce went in for his fourth.
Further tries from Orr and substitute Mark Lennon and Bartrim's sixth goal completed an easy win for the Tigers.
Wakefield's only try came eight minutes from time from second rower Gareth Ellis.