Not even the arrival of rugby league legend Ellery Hanley could prevent Castleford going down to an 11th straight defeat which leaves them six points adrift at the foot of Super League and staring at relegation.
Hanley, who joined the club this week as coaching consultant, watched helplessly as the Tigers let slip a 26-14 lead, conceding four tries in the last 21 minutes, in a crunch clash new head coach Gary Mercer had dubbed "our Grand Final".
Castleford fell behind to a 13th-minute penalty from Joel Caine, one of six goals from the Australian winger, but first-half tries from Wayne Godwin and Michael Smith eased the anxiety which characterised their early play.
Lively hooker Godwin darted over from acting half-back after 17 minutes while the strong-running Smith proved unstoppable from 10 metres out once he got into his mighty stride.
With Godwin kicking three goals from as many attempts, the Tigers were good value for a 14-2 lead but Salford hit back either side of half-time while the home side were reduced to 12 men with the sin-binning of Paul Mellor for a professional foul.
Impressive prop Neil Baynes forced his way over from close range as the half-time hooter sounded and the Tigers were still a man short when Mark Shipway and Karl Fitzpatrick combined superbly to get stand-off Cliff Beverley into a gap and Caine was in support to touch down.
Caine converted both tries to tie the scores but Castleford went back in front on 49 minutes when second rower Lee Harland showed remarkable strength to barge his way over.
Substitute Andy Kain then added a fourth Tigers try after his own kick rebounded fortuitously off a defender but Godwin was off target for the first time with the goalkick and that was the signal for the never-say-die visitors to launch their amazing fightback.
Prop Paul Highton sparked a 16-point scoring burst when he took Fitzpatrick's pass to touch down; substitute Gareth Haggerty forced his way over from close range and winger Tony Stewart collected a kick from Tigers' debutant scrum-half Luke Robinson to sprint 90 metres for the all-important try.
Former Castleford second rower Andy Johnson then went over for the clincher, although the home side had the last say when skipper Ryan Hudson scored the last of the game's 11 tries and Godwin kicked his sixth goal.
Newly-promoted Salford, who gave a first start to new signing Nathan McAvoy, will be greatly encouraged by a second successive win which puts them well clear of their hosts.
They had to battle against adversity to claim the spoils after losing loose forward Chris Charles with a cut head in the second minute and they also played most of the game without inspirational hooker Malcolm Alker, who was hurt while bravely diving on a loose ball.
New Castleford head coach Gary Mercer was left "dumbfounded" after his side conceded four tries in the last 21 minutes to go down 36-32 in their crunch Tetley's Super League relegation duel with Salford at The Jungle.
The Tigers looked set to break their duck when they led 26-14 after 56 minutes but the Reds ran away with the game in the final quarter and former Castleford second-rower Andy Johnson sealed their 11th-straight defeat with the visitors' sixth try three minutes from the end.
"I'm dumbfounded more than anything," said Mercer, who was appointed as Graham Steadman's successor four days ago.
"I can't believe it. We should have won. It's going to be tough to turn it around but the spirit is good and we've plenty of time.
"There are 17 games to go and I'm not giving up. We'll make these players work harder than they've ever worked before.
"We've got some deep soul-searching to do, especially on selection. At the end of the day, it's all about competition for places and we're going to make some real strong, stern decisions on players."
Castleford face another crucial relegation duel with London Broncos next Friday and Mercer, who dubbed this's game as "our Grand Final", says the Griffin Park clash is a must-win match.
"We've got to win it," he said.
"If we don't, we might as well go get an ice cream van and sell ice creams."
The Tigers are banking on the arrival of league legend Ellery Hanley as coaching consultant to spearhead their survival bid and he believes the problem could be in the players' heads.
"The game is about being mentally tough and mentally strong and, unfortunately in this particular 80 minutes, the players weren't, hence they lost the game," he said.
"The players have got to do their own soul-searching and take responsibility for decisions they take on the football field in pressure situations."
Salford's second-successive win lifts them six points clear of the Tigers but coach Karl Harrison believes the Yorkshiremen will still avoid the drop.
"Psychologically, it's a big result for us, to go three wins in front of Castleford," he said.
"I know we're not halfway through the season yet but it's a long way to come back.
"I still don't think Cas will finish bottom, though. They have too much quality."
The Reds staged their remarkable fightback despite losing loose forward Chris Charles for most of the game with a cut head and inspirational captain and hooker Malcolm Alker with a suspected broken rib 27 minutes into the match.
"We battled hard in adversity, losing a couple of players," added Harrison. "It was a big ask for Joel Caine to play 65 minutes at hooker but I thought he was magnificent.
"Castleford have been in the lead in most of their games this season without being able to hold onto it so we knew that, if we were patient, we could reinforce demons into their minds and get a couple of breakaway tries which we did."
Castleford finally ended their 11-match losing streak to register their first Tetley's Super League win of the season against London at Griffin Park.
The Tigers are now four points behind the second-from-bottom Broncos following the tense win over their fellow strugglers.
The visitors opened the scoring after 12 minutes when Darren Rogers' looping pass allowed Luke Robinson to ghost through the Broncos defence.
Three minutes later Waine Pryce waited to collect Jim Dymock's kick, allowing Broncos winger Lee Greenwood to pick up the ball and touch down.
Robinson, on loan from Wigan, combined with Jonny Hepworth after 26 minutes to send winger Paul Mellor into the corner to open up a six-point lead for the Tigers.
London could have pulled level had winger John Kirkpatrick not dropped the ball twice in the same move after Jon Wells raced 50 metres.
Five minutes before the interval however Dennis Moran provided the pass for Andrew Brocklehurst to force himself over the line to cut the Tigers lead to two points.
Robinson spurned a penalty at the start of the second period which if successful would have given his side a four-point lead.
Both sides on the whole lacked the cutting edge to really open the game up and seize a winning position as the game developed into an old-fashioned arm wrestle.
Ten minutes from time the Tigers had Robinson harshly sin-binned for a professional foul on Wells, who looked to have tried to play the ball too quickly.
Liam Botham, on loan from Leeds, kicked the goal from in front of the post to level the scores.
Five minutes from time Wayne Godwin landed a 42-metre penalty from right in front of the posts to edge the visitors back in front for what was the winning score.
Castleford coaching consultant Ellery Hanley was fulsome in his praise of his side following their 12-10 win against London at Griffin Park which brought them their first victory in 12 attempts this season.
Wayne Godwin's 42-metre penalty four minutes from time settled a tense affair between the Tetley's Super League's bottom two sides.
The Broncos, who trailed from the 12th minute, looked to have earned a share of the spoils when Liam Botham kicked a penalty 10 minutes from time.
"The players showed a lot of courage, commitment and desire. When we analyse the game, it was ugly as far as we were concerned and sometimes we have to win ugly," Hanley admitted.
"The game is about simplicity; getting good field position when you get position and do the right thing with the football.
"There were particular times during the game we didn't do the right thing,
the players have to learn in a pressure pot.
"One of the things you have to do as a footballer is stay in control when you are winning and when you are losing which is a key factor in any sport," he said.
Broncos coach Tony Rea admitted he was happy with his side's effort despite slipping to their fifth defeat on the spin.
"I was pretty happy with the effort, it was an even game. I'm disappointed
that we didn't take a couple of half-chances that came our way.
"It was a game when you needed to take those half-chances, the game was two
tries each and it came down to them kicking their kicks and we missed ours.
"I'm not looking at the table, I'm more about the performance but I'm not getting caught up in that stuff. It's hard to find a bloke who didn't play well."
"We have filled up the tank, we now just need to add some polish," said Rea.
Rampant Hull climbed to third in the Tetley's Super League with their second emphatic win in a week.
Hull demolished Widnes 70-4 six days ago and were just as ruthless this afternoon as they ran in 10 tries to crush bottom side Castleford at The Jungle.
Shaun McRae's side picked up exactly where they left off on Monday as they opened their account with a try from Richard Horne after just 25 seconds.
Hull found themselves able to score almost at will with Gareth Raynor, back after being dropped for missing a training session, leading the way with a hat-trick of tries. Kirk Yeaman also crossed twice and Paul Cooke kicked five goals.
Buoyed by their first win of the season against London last week and the arrival of new signing Motu Tony, Cas went into the game in higher spirits than they had been for some time.
But that was shot to pieces within moments of the start as Hull charged forward and Richard Swain found a gap to put Horne over.
Hull seemed as determined as they were against Widnes and a well-flighted quick by Jason Smith almost yielded a second try for Shaun Briscoe.
Tony struggled to make an impact for the Tigers and his first significant contribution was to benefit only Hull as former Cas favourite Michael Eagar incepted his pass and put Raynor away.
Raynor sprinted deep into opposition territory and his lightning counter-attack was finished off when Horne passed for Smith to score.
Paul King then forced his way through a number of weak Tigers tackles to add a third before Horne spread the ball wide for Colin Best to sprint down the line for another.
The lively Briscoe created the next with a quick break from deep inside his own half.
The former Wigan full-back showed great pace before Best and Raynor completed a superb length-of-the-field move to make it 24-0 at the break.
Half-time offered only temporary respite for the Tigers as Hull added another within five minutes of the restart when Cooke's pass gave Yeaman a simple touchdown.
It was the first of two for Yeaman in the space of three minutes as Hull threatened to inflict the same humiliation they heaped on the Vikings.
Cooke was again the architect with a long pass for Raynor, whose pace again left Yeaman with an easy task to score.
The Tigers at least managed to break up the procession with a try of their own after 52 minutes when Ryan Clayton forced his way through and Wayne Godwin converted.
But normal service was soon resumed as Hull claimed their eighth try of the afternoon with a short-range effort from Richard Whiting.
Waine Pryce then lost the ball in a tackle to gift Raynor his second try and the former Leicester rugby union player completed his treble after a Briscoe break moments later. Richard Swain converted this time.
Sean Rudder and and Paul Mellor found their way over for late Tigers consolation tries with Jon Hepworth converting both.
Ellery Hanley accused Castleford of playing like an amateur side as the Tetley's Super League's bottom club slumped to a 52-18 defeat to Hull.
The Tigers showed little stomach for a contest as they shipped 10 tries to allow Hull to canter to victory at The Jungle.
Hanley, recently brought in to work as coaching consultant to head coach Gary Mercer, pulled no punches in his criticism of the side.
The former St Helens coach said: "I feel very sorry for the spectators. They have paid good money and come to see a Castleford side very much under par.
"The very basics of the game we let ourselves down in. You have to get those basics right. We looked really poor and basically looked like an amateur side.
"I think that if your coach gives you the information on how to beat the opposition, you have to give something back to the coaching staff.
"Our players didn't do that and I'm not going to protect them. I've known Gary Mercer for many years and there are no doubts about his enthusiasm.
"It is the players who are not giving enough back to the club. If Gary Mercer and I hadn't done the work in preparing the side then we would hold our hands up, but the work has been done. The blame has to lie squarely with the players."
The Tigers were on their way to their 11th defeat in 13 Super League matches after just 25 seconds as Richard Horne cut through for the opening try.
Hull were just as ruthless as they had been in beating Widnes 70-4 on Monday. Gareth Raynor, back in the side after being dropped for missing a training session, helped himself to a hat-trick and Kirk Yeaman also scored twice.
The win lifted Hull to third in the table and coach Shaun McRae was pleased with the way his side maintained their momentum throughout the game.
McRae said: "We got away to a great start but I have seen some sides start like that before and come unstuck.
"I am happy with the way we played and over the 80 minutes I have got to be happy with the effort. You don't come to this ground and expect to win like that.
"I thought we put them under pressure and were clinical. We didn't allow them back into the game."
McRae was also pleased with Raynor's display and added: "Gareth has taken his medicine and responded the way you would expect a professional.
"He accepted it and responded with a tremendous performance."
Two-try hauls from Darren Albert, Paul Wellens and Chris Joynt helped St Helens to a comfortable victory over Castleford Tigers and ensured Ellery Hanley's return to Knowsley Road ended in disappointment.
Hanley, the new coaching consultant at the Jungle, saw his old side run riot in the second half, notching 34 unanswered points, although the Tigers will feel the scoreline flattered Ian Millward's men after a reasonably even first period.
The Challenge Cup winners proved too fast and too clever out wide, with Sean Long bagging 16 points via a try and six goals.
Saints had been immediately placed under pressure of their own making when Ade Gardner's hospital pass was only just recovered by Wellens on his own line.
From the resulting play-the-ball, though, skipper Paul Sculthorpe dummied his way through some poor tackling from the Tigers markers to break the line.
Although he initially ignored the flying Albert to his right, he slipped the ball instead to Jason Hooper on his left shoulder and the Aussie had too much pace for the chasing defence to touch down under the posts, Long converting.
The Tigers were quick to respond and, after Luke Robinson had forced two goal-line drop-outs with excellent grubber kicks, the on-loan Wigan scrum half put Andy Kain through a gaping gap only for Wellens to pull off a sensational try-saving tackle five yards short.
Cas did pull two points back through the boot of Wayne Godwin after 15 minutes when the home side were penalised for offside bang in front of the posts.
Three minutes later Paul Mellor touched down out left after fielding Robinson's beautifully-judged bomb and taking Albert over the line with him.
Godwin's magnificent touchline goal gave the Tigers an unlikely 8-6 advantage.
Saints were not behind for long, though, a short kick-off proving fruitful and quick hands right saw Martin Gleeson put Albert in for the walk-in score.
Long added the extras from out wide to restore Saints' four-point lead.
Albert then grabbed his second try two minutes later when he followed up in support after Hooper latched on to Wellens' well-timed pass, and Long again converted to stretch the lead to 10 points.
Saints increased their lead within a minute of the restart, Wellens plucking Long's bomb from the grasp of full-back Jonny Hepworth to score and Long again making no mistake.
Long added the fifth try himself after 53 minutes, darting over from close range through the stretched defence, although Sculthorpe had to fire over the conversion after the scrum half took a knock to the head.
Two minutes later, Long sent Wellens through the gap to score out wide, the scrum half converting yet again and, at 36-8 down and a quarter of the game still to go, the Tigers were looking down the barrels of another heavy defeat that their enthusiastic effort did not deserve.
Joynt was the next to cross the whitewash, walking in under the posts after Long was tackled just short.
Sculthorpe notched the easy conversion and added a try of his own two minutes later, Long this time converting to take the score out to 48-8.
Joynt completed the scoring in the dying stages, although Long blotted his copybook with the first missed goal of the night.
Warrington maintained their Tetley's Super League play-off challenge with a comfortable six-try victory over basement side Castleford.
Winger Ben Westwood led the way with three tries to leave the Tigers firmly rooted to the bottom of the table.
The only bright spot for Cas was a two-try display by scrum-half Luke Robinson, on loan from Wigan.
The Tigers faded after taking a fifth-minute lead when Robinson regathered his own kick to score after Warrington's Nathan Wood fumbled the ball on his own tryline.
The Wolves missed an excellent chance to level five minutes later when Jon Clarke, Graham Appo, Daryl Cardiss and Brent Grose combined cleverly but Westwood failed to take the final pass.
Warrington's finishing let them down again when another promising move resulted in Westwood losing the ball near the tryline.
But Westwood made amends in the 19th minute when he jumped highest to take Wood's kick and plunge over for his first try, which Paul Noone converted.
The winger scored again five minutes later after good work by Mark Gleeson and Jerome Guisset. Noone's touchline conversion put the Wolves 12-4 up.
Castleford's Wayne Godwin and Warrington's Mark Hilton were sin-binned after a flare-up on the stroke of half-time.
The Tigers were making little impact in attack and they fell further behind early in the second half when Wolves winger Dean Gaskell went over from Wood's pass and Noone tagged on his third goal.
Westwood completed his treble in the 55th minute by latching on to Appo's high kick.
Little went right for Castleford. Their luck was out again three minutes later when prop Andy Lynch had a touchdown disallowed for failing to ground the ball correctly.
They were given a glimmer of hope in the 67th minute when Robinson collected his second touchdown after capitalising on a neat kick by Godwin, who added the goal.
But Warrington finished the game well on top, adding two tries in the last eight minutes from Grose and Wood plus a conversion by Appo.