Huddersfield will go into their Challenge Cup semi-final against Leeds buoyed by successive wins after a battling victory over Castleford this afternoon.
Having come from behind against Wakefield to end a run of four straight engage Super League defeats last week, the Giants again needed to dig deep to see off the battling Tigers.
Brad Drew, Kevin Brown, Andy Raleigh, Jim Gannon, Chris Nero and Martin Aspinwall all crossed for the Giants on an eventful afternoon at the Galpharm Stadium, which saw Castleford's Danny Brough sent off.
The game proved a baptism of fire for rookie referee Jamie Leahy, who was controlling his first Super League match.
Brough was dismissed for reacting angrily to be being sin-binned late in the game while there were also a number of calls which infuriated the home side.
The action had started well with Michael Shenton brilliantly flicking the ball wide for Adam Fletcher to claim the opening try for Castleford - the unlikely play-off contenders - after just three minutes.
The winger could have had a second five minutes later but he brushed the touchline after appearing to take Danny Sculthorpe's fine long pass in his stride.
Huddersfield responded with Stuart Jones breaking through the Cas line to send Drew over for a try Michael De Vere converted.
The visitors regained the lead as scrum-half Brough kicked through for Deon Bird to touch down.
Brough added the extras but Huddersfield went in 12-10 ahead at the break as Chris Thorman's well-weighted deep kick sat up nicely for on-loan Wigan centre Brown to race onto. De Vere again converted.
The four tries, however, were far from the whole story of the first half as Leahy found himself at the centre of controversy.
Leahy angered the Giants when pulled play back for offside and denied Robbie Paul an advantage that could have yielded a try.
That came after he had only placed Sculthorpe on report for a high tackle on Stuart Donlan and more controversy followed as Richard Fa'aoso escaped punishment for a head shot on full-back Paul Reilly.
Reilly left the field with a bloodied face and did not return until late in the game.
Danny Nutley was then harshly penalised for a high tackle in the last minute of the half but De Vere put his goal attempt wide.
Huddersfield were awarded another penalty early in the second half but this time chose to run it and were rewarded as Raleigh powered over from the quick tap.
The Giants then took a firm grip on the game as Gannon pierced the line to score under the posts. De Vere's conversions gave the hosts a healthy 24-10 lead.
Tempers again started to fray in the final quarter and Brough was shown the yellow card for dissent.
His aggressive response towards Leahy immediately led to the red one being produced.
Huddersfield took advantage of their extra man and made the game safe with a Nero try seven minutes from time.
Aspinwall then broke from his own half to touch down in the last minute with a bandaged Reilly completing the scoring with the conversion.
Wakefield survived the first half dismissal of captain Monty Betham to breathe fresh life into their engage Super League survival bid.
Despite losing the Kiwi Betham for punching and prop Ned Catic for a butt in the closing stages, it was a stunning start to the reign of new boss John Kear as his relegation-haunted side won a scrappy affair and moved off the bottom of the table.
Wakefield absorbed incessant second half pressure before finishing with a flourish, scoring three tries in the final 14 minutes to gain two priceless points.
Kear's men made a flying start with a try on two minutes, when half-back Ben Jeffries and Kiwi back row David Solomona carved an opening for winger Semi Tadulala to touch down in the corner.
They were the only points of a penalty-strewn half as nerves got to both sides.
Willie Manu went closest for lacklustre Castleford, while Betham wrestled his way over at the other end - only to be held up over the try line.
The tension spilled over just seconds from the hooter when Betham was given his marching orders for raining a series of blows on Ryan McGoldrick after tackling the Australian half-back in midfield.
The Tigers showed far more urgency in the second half but Wakefield defended stubbornly.
Cas hooker Andy Henderson's superb break ended with winger Adam Fletcher going over in the corner but the final pass was ruled forward.
Then Cas had a lucky escape when the video referee ruled out an effort from centre Ryan Atkins.
Wakefield put the game to bed with three late tries.
Winger Colum Halpenny doubled the lead from a suspiciously forward-looking pass from James Evans, who then won the race to ground an astute kick from half-back Jamie Rooney four minutes later.
Former Tigers full-back Tom Saxton scored a superb individual try, goaled by Rooney, before the Wildcats were reduced to 11 men when Catic was sent off for appearing to headbutt Tigers prop Danny Sculthorpe
Leon Pryce provided the inspiration as engage Super League leaders St Helens ruthlessly swept aside relegation-threatened Castleford at the Jungle.
Pryce moved to Knowsley Road from his hometown club Bradford during the close-season in search of a fresh challenge and the stand-off role he had long coveted.
Saints coach Daniel Anderson handed the Great Britain international the number six jersey and Pryce has responded in style.
The towering Yorkshireman, one of Super League's brightest but most frustrating talents, helped orchestrate a victory which moved Saints one step closer towards clinching top spot.
The Knowsley Road club ran in six first-half tries - with Pryce playing a part in five of those scores - and were equally clinical after the break with another six touchdowns.
Mercurial centre Jamie Lyon converted every one of them and, having crossed the line twice himself, ended the match with a personal 32-point haul.
The humiliating reverse for Terry Matterson's side, coming a week after their 18-0 home defeat to relegation rivals Wakefield, was their heaviest defeat of the season - but a boost to Saints' bitter rivals Wigan.
Tigers coach Matterson handed teenager Jason Payne his debut at loose forward but it quickly proved a tough baptism of fire for the academy product.
After Castleford had forced a brief spell of sustained pressure, Saints swiftly assumed total control as Pryce and Sean Long combined to send Jon Wilkin over after 13 minutes.
That set the wheels in motion for a blistering display of attacking rugby which saw the visitors extend their lead after 19 minutes through Willie Talau.
Keiron Cunningham's meticulous dummy running and offload found Pryce and the erstwhile Bradford favourite sent Talau racing clear.
Three minutes later, an audacious dummy from Francis Meli saw him dart through a gap in the home rearguard and offload to Paul Wellens for the first of his two tries.
Castleford prop Danny Sculthorpe had made his presence felt during the opening exchanges but his elder brother, St Helens captain Paul, eclipsed his sibling on 25 minutes when he collected another perfect Pryce offload to race over.
The tries poured even more confidence into Saints and they took illustrated as much on the half-hour mark when replacement Maurie Fa'asavalu took Pryce's pass to race under the posts.
Remarkably, Pryce engineered yet another score for the visitors before the interval hooter had sounded as his astute offload sent Wellens galloping clear for his brace.
And with Lyon converting all six tries, the contest was effectively over at the break with Saints 36-0 ahead.
Yet there was no chance of the visitors taking their foot off the pedal as the mercurial Lyon claimed two tries in eight minutes before Kiwi prop Jason Cayless claimed Saints' ninth try shortly before the hour mark.
St Helens youngster James Roby got in on the act broke away after 67 minutes before Long took passes from Ade Gardner and Cayless to cross the line twice in the space of four minutes.
With Lyon adding his 11th and 12th goals, Saints went 72-0 ahead but Gray Viane's last-minute try at least ensured Castleford had the final say, but Craig Huby's missed conversion epitomised a dreadful afternoon for the hosts.
Super League champions Bradford ran riot to easily regain the two points docked by their salary-cap breach and pile on the agony for relegation-threatened Castleford.
The Bulls won at a canter, running in nine tries against a Tigers side that still looked to be in shock from their club record 72-4 hammering by St Helens five days earlier.
Three of the tries were scored with Castleford down to 12 men, firstly through the sin-binning of Peter Lupton and then from the dismissal of Jason Payne nine minutes from the end for a high tackle on Stanley Gene.
The two points restored to Bradford's tally ensured a top-four finish for the defending champions but Castleford remain deep in trouble at the other end of the table.
The early-warning signals were posted by Bradford's juggernaut winger Lesley Vainikolo, who took a pass from his centre Shontayne Hape and proved unstoppable from close range to open the scoring on eight minutes.
Castleford, who gave a Super League debut to back rower Michael Knowles and a second outing to teenage prop Payne, put themselves under pressure by conceding a series of penalties.
They showed brief signs of resistance when winger Deon Bird won the race to Danny Brough's neat grubber kick to claim a try after earlier dropping the ball stretching for the line.
Second rower Willie Manu also lost possession close to the line but Bradford took a stranglehold on the match with two tries in 10 minutes.
First impressive second rower Chris McKenna skipped out of an attempted tackle from Castleford captain Danny Nutley to touch down and then centre Ben Harris weaved his way through some more flimsy tackling.
Paul Deacon converted all three tries to extend his side's lead to 18-4 and the visitors' plight worsened when loose forward Peter Lupton was sin-binned three minutes before half-time for persistent interference in the tackle.
When Lupton returned, he found his side even further adrift after they conceded two tries in his absence.
First Ben Harris surged through for his second, just 47 seconds after the re-start, and then substitute centre Karl Pryce collected Iestyn Harris' long kick to race away for a try.
At 28-4, there was no way back for Castleford and it got worse when winger Adam Fletcher made a mess of collecting a loose ball behind his own line and gifted a try to Bulls second rower Brett Ferres.
Deacon was twice off target with his goalkicks but he was quickly back in the groove to convert Bradford's next try from substitute Stanley Gene, who made light of some more paper-thin tackling to force his way over from close range.
Pryce added a second, courtesy of a 50-metre interception, but Fletcher made amends for his howler by racing on to Ryan McGoldrick's kick to claim his side's second try.
A disappointing night ended on a disastrous note for the visitors when Payne was shown the red card and Bradford once more took advantage of the extra man for Brad Meyers to crash over for the game's final try, to which Deacon added his sixth goal.
Castleford Tigers breathed new life into their fight for engage Super League survival with a potentially priceless victory against Harlequins.
Two early tries from Luke Dyer and Ryan McGoldrick put the Tigers in command but Quins hit back to lead through converted scores from Paul Sykes and Danny Williams.
However, Peter Lupton crossed on the stroke of half-time to restore Castleford's lead and second-half tries from Willie Manu and Adam Fletcher secured the points.
The moment of the match came shortly before the hour mark when 38-year-old Brad Davis - who came off the bench to make his first appearance since May - set up Fletcher's try with a brilliant kick.
The success draws Terry Matterson's side level with Quins on 19 points and leaves Wakefield as firm favourites to relinquish their top-flight status.
Neither Castleford nor Harlequins can yet consider themselves safe but both sides now lie three points above the Wildcats with just two games remaining.
Tigers coach Matterson was a popular player with London Broncos at the advent of Super League in 1996 and he knew the importance of the clash against his former club.
The Australian had seen his team lost their previous four games but they quickly set out to put things right by opening the scoring from the second set of six in the third minute.
The Tigers had penned Quins back from the first whistle and a fine array of inter-passing saw the ball pass through four pairs of hands and culminated in Australian centre McGoldrick sending Dyer in at the left corner.
The otherwise flawless Danny Brough failed to land the goal but Castleford continued to dominate with Danny Sculthorpe making his presence felt up front with a series of thunderous challenges.
One such challenge during the opening exchanges left the former Wigan prop requiring treatment for a head injury yet it typified the Tigers' commitment to the cause.
Indeed, there was precious little respite for the Londoners during the opening quarter as Castleford sought to make their early dominance pay.
They did just that in the 19th minute when a delightful grubber kick from Sculthorpe was touched down by McGoldrick in the left corner.
But Castleford were stunned shortly before the half hour mark when Chad Randall and Luke Dorn combined to send Sykes over from close range.
The score injected new-found belief into the visitors and in the 32nd minute they registered again when Rob Purdham expertly engineered the space before providing a delicate offload to Williams, who raced over.
Sykes converted both tries to edge Quins 12-10 ahead but Lupton's converted try - awarded after deliberation from the video referee - put Castleford 16-12 ahead at the break.
And the Jungle erupted 10 minutes after the restart when Michael Shenton embarked on a surging run which took him deep into Harlequins territory.
He was held up but the subsequent pressure led to Manu crossing the line and three minutes later Davis entered the fray.
It was the evergreen scrum-half's first appearance in three and a half months following injury but he showed he has lost none of his class.
Within four minutes of his arrival, he displayed brilliant vision and perfect technique to send an exquisite kick into the right corner for Fletcher to touch down.
Brough failed to claim his fourth goal from five attempts but Sculthorpe's late drop goal ensured Castleford ended the game on a high.
Salford edged a bruising encounter with Castleford to ensure that the engage Super League relegation battle will go down to the final weekend of the season.
Castleford must now avoid defeat at relegation rivals Wakefield to avoid the drop.
Salford came from 14-6 down to cement their first shot at the Super League play-off. Late tries by Andy Coley and Luke Robinson gave Salford the edge.
Their other try scorers were inspirational skipper Malcolm Alker and youngster Daley Williams.
Luke Dyer and Danny Sculthorpe touched down for Castleford, who dominated the first half but ran out of steam towards the end.
Castleford were able to name the same team that ended a four-game losing streak at Harlequins last weekend.
But Salford made two changes with Williams coming in for knee injury victim Karl Fitzpatrick and Gareth Haggerty recovering from a virus to replace Danny Lima on the substitutes' bench.
And they were also keen to end their home season on a high and give departing players like Andrew Dunemann, Sean Rutgerson and Chris Charles a happy final memory of the Willows.
But it was Castleford who made the brighter start, after kick-off had been delayed by 15 minutes due to crowd congestion outside the ground.
Andy Henderson had a try disallowed on two minutes when Sculthorpe's offload was adjudged to have gone forwards. Henderson was inches away from another try in Castleford's next set of six.
But it was Salford who opened the scoring when Alker drove over in a three-man tackle following a fine dummy and pass by Dunemann. David Hodgson converted but Castleford came storming back.
Danny Brough knocked over a penalty goal and converted a 14th-minute try by Dyer.
A mis-tackle by Williams was to blame for Dyer's try and Ryan McGoldrick claimed the assist out wide.
Brough put Cas 10-6 ahead with his second penalty goal after Robinson had kicked straight into touch. He then sent Sculthorpe thundering over with a simple inside pass.
But he failed to convert and Salford reduced their arrears to 14-10 seconds before the half-time interval when Stuart Littler's grubber gave Williams an open invitation to claim his first try for the Reds.
Robinson showed breathtaking skill to put Salford's noses back in front on 54 minutes. He weaved past three defenders and Hodgson kicked the conversion to put the Reds 16-14 ahead.
Salford were then punished for interfering at the play-the-ball and Brough took the opportunity to level the scores.
But a late surge of pressure gave Salford the spoils. Coley barged over from close range and Robinson sent Hodgson over.
Charles converted the second of the two late tries as the home supporters went home happy.
Wakefield pulled off the great escape on a night of high drama to condemn neighbours Castleford to relegation for the second time in three years.
The Wildcats were 8-1 on with the bookmakers to go down when John Kear took over the reins two months ago but their heart-stopping win in a match worth £1million to the victors was their fourth in six matches as they reached the target set by the coach with the midas touch.
The eagerly-awaited clash, played in front of 11,000 fans shoe-horned into Belle Vue and others perched on rooftops overlooking the famous ground, lived up to all expectations.
It was every bit as close as expected, with Wakefield just about deserving their success after holding their nerve and ending Castleford's brave resistance with two tries in the last 15 minutes.
It was a sad way for Castleford captain Danny Nutley to bow out of the English game while assistant coach Brad Davis found himself on the losing side on a last-day decider for the second time.
The Tigers were the pre-season relegation favourites but they went into the biggest game in their recent history game needing a point to secure their future and for long periods they looked capable of achieving it.
Jamie Rooney kicked the home side into an early lead after Castleford forward Richard Fletcher had been penalised for a high tackle on Wakefield scrum-half Ben Jeffries.
But it was the visitors who scored the first try of an action-packed first half, with second rower Willie Manu pouncing on a Danny Brough grubber kick after defender David Solomona had been slow to react.
Brough made it 6-2 with the conversion but there was a touch of controversy when Jeffries slipped a tackle from Danny Ward and went 70 metres to the line only to have the try disallowed by video referee Ian Ollerton for obstruction in back play.
It looked a harsh call but at least Wakefield were spared further punishment when Brough missed his kick at goal from the resultant penalty.
However, the decision looked an even bigger call five minutes later when Tigers full-back Michael Platt cut a great swathe through the heart of the home side's defence.
He was eventually stopped but defenders were still retreating when winger Adam Fletcher went from acting half and sprinted 30 metres to the corner for a second Castleford try.
Brough was again wide with the goal attempt but increased his side's lead to 11-2 with a drop goal before Wakefield struck back with two tries in the last 10 minutes of the half, despite the loss of full-back Colum Halpenny with concussion.
An offload by substitute forward Ben Catic was hacked sideways by Monty Betham straight into the hands of centre James Evans, who was left with an unopposed run to the line.
Rooney added the goal and almost grabbed a try following another neat offload from Catic but the pass went to ground.
Wakefield kept up the pressure, however, and regained the lead three minutes before the break when club captain Jason Demetriou demonstrated remarkable strength and fortitude to brush off a series of attempted tackles and reach the line.
Rooney maintained his 100 per cent record with the boot to give his side a three-point lead but it was anybody's game.
There were more signs of nerves at the start of the second half, with Semi Tadulala (Wakefield) and Deon Bird (Castleford) both fumbling the ball on the first tackle.
But there was no let-up in the action as the lead changed hands twice more within 11 minutes of the re-start.
First Castleford captain Danny Nutley took a pass from dummy half Andy Henderson to crash over for only his third try for the club in his final match.
Brough's goal made it 17-14 but Wakefield quickly made their way upfield and their captain Monty Betham took Sam Obst's pass to bounce off the tackle of Luke Dyer to touch down despite the hint of a double movement.
Rooney's fourth goal restored the Wildcats' three-point lead as the game entered a dramatic final quarter.
Castleford sent on 38-year-old Davis in one last bid for glory and winger Ryan McGoldrick reached the line only to be held up on his back.
That proved to be the Tigers' last chance as the Wildcats took full advantage of a knock-on by Gray Viane to set up the all-important score, centre Kevin Henderson taking Solomona's pass to cross at the corner.
Rooney was off target for the first time but Trinity had a seven-point cushion, which became eight when Rooney coolly slotted over a drop goal.
And the Wildcats piled on the misery for their neighbours when Evans grabbed his second try after Rooney's high kick deceived Dyer with a wicked bounce.