Castleford 88 Lock Lane 10

Match Report taken from http://www.ctsc.org.uk written by NormyTiger

No Challenge Cup shock at The Jungle as a young Tigers’ 17 ran in 16 tries in an entertaining encounter.

Terry Matterson used the opportunity to give a number of the club’s promising youngsters game time and handed debuts to 8 in total: - wingers Alex Shenton and Adam Jones, Eddie Croft at scrum half, Sean Johnson at hooker and to subs Matty Duckworth, Nathan Massey, Liam Watts and Craig Potter. Dwayne Barker and Michael Knowles started in the centres and Joe Westerman was given the 13 shirt with Ryan McGoldrick skippering the side from stand off.

The Tigers were soon of the mark as Alex Shenton scored in the corner after only 8 minutes. Westerman added the first of his 12 goals to edge Cas in front as Lock Lane had got off to a dream start with winger Craig Bettinson pouncing on John Astbury’s kick to the corner. The try was too far out for Wayne Hardy to convert but he was able to add a fine conversion after Carl Robinson’s 62nd minute try.

In between the Tigers ran in a further 58 points with tries at regular intervals which with one exception Westerman added the conversion including some towering kicks from the touchline.

Westerman himself scored the 2nd Cas try after 13 minutes when he showed true class to dummy his way through the Lock Lane defence. Four minutes later full back Richard Owen crossed then Barker scored after good work by McGoldrick, Westerman and Liam Higgins. McGoldrick then made a great 40 metre break to send Ryan Clayton in and within 3 minutes hooker Johnson scored to give the Tigers a 36-4 lead at the break.

Croft got the first of his brace 2 minutes after the restart taking a Barker pass and then dummied his way over after 50 minutes from a Westerman pass. Adam Jones was the next on the score sheet after good work from Higgins, Owen and Knowles. Westerman was unsuccessful with the conversion, his only miss of the game.

Lock Lane were then reduced to 12 men as Chris Tudor was given 10 minutes by referee Child and Cas continued to rack up the points. Substitute Watts was next then Knowles ran 75 metres for a fine solo try.

Credit to Lock Lane who battled all day and their efforts were rewarded with Robinson’s try. This only delayed the Tigers stream of tries as in the final 15 minutes Shenton intercepted a wayward pass, Duckworth then crossed and prop Ryan Boyle now operating in the right centre collected 2 in the corner.

The last word inevitably was with Westerman as he landed his 12th conversion to Jones’ 2nd try to give him a 28 point haul.

There were notable contributions from Croft, Johnson, Boyle, Higgins, Knowles and especially Westerman as the Tigers earned their place in the next round draw but the plaudits from this game go to the players and officials of Lock Lane.

Next up for Cas is a trip to the Don Valley Stadium on Friday for an encounter with Sheffield Eagles as the Tigers look to extend their unbeaten start to the season.

Tigers
Richard Owen, Alex Shenton, Dwayne Barker, Michael Knowles, Adam Jones, Ryan McGoldrick, Eddie Croft, Liam Higgins, Sean Johnson, Ryan Boyle, Jason Payne, Ryan Clayton, Joe Westerman
Subs:- Matthew Duckworth, Nathan Massey, Liam Watts, Craig Potter

Lock Lane
Steven Bolderson, John Bassinder, Chris Chen, Chris Stockton, Craig Bettinson, John Astbury, Robbie Mawson, Wayne Hardy, Joe Wilkinson, Craig Jeffels, Jamie Price, Chris Tudor, Mark Spears
Subs Carl Robinson, Paul Crouch, James Rayner, Richard Potts

Referee: Julian Childs

Attendance: 3948

Bradford 24 Castleford 16

Match Report taken from http://www.ctsc.org.uk written by NormyTiger

The Tigers suffered their first defeat of the season to the Super League leaders Bradford Bulls at The Grattan Stadium losing 24-16 in an encounter that had the 6748 (a disappointing crowd) spectators enthralled for the full 80 minutes of this Carnegie Challenge Cup tie.

Both sides gave everything in this battle and both deserve massive credit for their way they played unfortunately Mr Klein’s performance was inconsistent to say the least.

Bradford started the game looking to dominate the forward battle and were on the attack from the off when after 2 penalties in the opening 70 seconds helped set up the position for Super Leagues form player Glenn Morrison to score from close range. Paul Deacon added the conversion from in front of the posts and the vast army of Cas fans could have been forgiven for fearing the worst, especially as it was a full 5 minutes before the Tigers got hold of the ball.

The Tigers gradually fought their way back in to the game and when a loose pass from Iestyn Harris was picked up by Michael Wainwright the flying winger raced 50 metres to score under the posts. Scrum half Danny Brough duly added the 2 points and at 6-6 it was game on.

The Bulls enjoyed the majority of first half possession rattled up a further 12 points before the break. First Chris McKenna sent Marcus St.Hilaire in then a clever angled run from Lesley Vainokolo to crash over from a clever pass from David Solomona. Deacon added the extras to both to secure an 18-6 half time lead.

The second half was a different story as the Tigers began to dictate the game with McGoldrick, Brough, Guttenbiel and Lupton all featured in Castleford’s best moments.

Michael Shenton sent Stuart Donlan into space and the winger covered plenty of ground before turning the ball inside but the attack came to nothing but 6 minutes later Brough’s towering 40/20 set up the position for Dwayne Barker to send out a long ball to Shenton to dive over too wide for Brough to add the extras but at 18-10 Cas were back in it.

Cas continued to push the Bulls hard and when a long kick down field by Brough was knocked on by Nathan McAvoy the resultant scrum set up the position for the next score as the scrum half put a short kick through for Peter Lupton to pounce. Brough’s goal made the score 18-16 and with the Tigers fans in full voice a shock victory looked a real possibility.

Bradford had other ideas Solomona scored from close range for and Deacon’s 4th conversion completed the scoring. With McGoldrick and Brough continuing to try all their tricks the Tigers never gave in and Shenton came close to a 2nd try but was unable ground the ball after hacking on the Aussie stand off clever chip.

When the hooter signalled full time the Cas faithful gave the players a fantastic ovation which they richly deserved.

Skipper Andy Henderson took the sponsors Man of the Match but the award could have gone to any number of players with Solomona, Ian Henderson, Andy Lynch and Morrison impressive for the Bulls and a heroic display from all 17 Tigers must have delighted coach Terry Matterson.

The performance from a full strength Tigers was outstanding and should see them enter the NL1 campaign in confident mood as Halifax visit The Jungle on Good Friday and the club will be hoping for a bumper crowd to start the Easter period.

Attendance:6748

Referee: A Klein

Teams

Cas. Saxton, Donlan, Shenton, Dixon, Wainwright, McGoldrick, Brough, Higgins, Henderson, Huby, Guttenbiel, Charles, Lupton subs: Leafa, Barker, Glassie, Clayton.

Bulls. St.Hilaire, McAvoy, B. Harris, Evans, Vainokolo, I. Harris, Deacon, Vagana, Newton, Lynch, McKenna, Solomona, Morrison. Subs: Feather, Cook, Henderson, Burgess.