Huddersfield 21-26 Castleford: Match report & reaction

Match stats: Huddersfield 21-26 Castleford

Huddersfield tries: Mamo (19,23,36)
Conversions/Penalties: Brough (19, 23, 36, 71)
Drop-Goals:  Brough (56) 

Castleford tries:  Monaghan (8), Minikin (26), Eden (47), Sene-Lefao (75)
Conversions/Penalties: McShane (8, 26, 47, 68, 75) 

Match report

Castleford battled adversity to snatch a nailbiting 26-21 victory over Huddersfield Giants that strengthens their position at the top of the Betfred Super League.

Huddersfield were clinging to a 21-20 lead against the 12-man Tigers when skipper Danny Brough became the second player to be sin-binned and the Tigers struck the decisive blow with Jesse Sene-Lefao's 75th-minute try.

Without their trio of England players and losing stand-off Ben Roberts before kick-off as well as his replacement Rangi Chase to injury, Castleford may well look back at this victory as the pivotal point in their season.

The Giants' defeat came in spite of a first-half hat-trick of tries from Australian full-back Jake Mamo, who has now scored six times in his four Super League outings, making up for lost time after sitting out the first two months of the season with a broken ankle.

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Castleford, who gave a debut to former Leeds and London Broncos forward Alex Foster, were a pale shadow of the side that thrashed Wigan 54-4 in their previous game but coach Daryl Powell will be delighted with the way they coped without a host of big names.

Huddersfield too, emerged with considerable credit, even though they were unable to follow up their shock 31-2 win at Headingley that prevented Leeds going top of the table.

The players and coach Rick Stone dedicated that victory to Jennifer Davy, wife of Huddersfield owner Ken Davy who had died on the eve of the game, and there was a moving tribute before kick-off at the John Smith's Stadium.

Left winger Joel Monaghan opened the scoring for the visitors after just seven minutes, finishing off a flowing move in the corner for a try converted by makeshift half-back Paul McShane, but then it was the Mamo show for the rest of the first half.

He was in the right place to take centre Aaron Murphy's pass out of a two-man tackle to score his first try, was put through a gap by Brough for his second and then followed up a grubber kick from the Giants skipper to complete his hat-trick.

His scoring run was interrupted by Castleford right winger Greg Minikin, who took Chase's cut-out pass to grab his 13th try of the season but Huddersfield deserved their 18-12 interval lead.

The Tigers brought the scores level for the third time six minutes into the second half when Monaghan re-gathered McShane's high kick to get Eden over for his 15th try of the campaign but they were forced into some desperate defence as Huddersfield piled on the pressure.

Mamo was thwarted as he went for a fourth try and centre Alex Mellor also went close before Brough opted to nudge his side ahead with a drop goal on 55 minutes.

The leaders lived dangerously at times but somehow held their line intact and in a rare foray into Huddersfield territory were awarded a penalty for interference in the ruck on 67 minutes and McShane put his side back in front with his fourth goal.

The game appeared to have slipped beyond the leaders two minutes later when Castleford centre Jake Webster was sin-binned for holding down prop Sebastine Ikahihifo following a break and Brough kicked the penalty to make it 21-20.

But the teams were evened up when Brough came in late into a tackle was also shown a yellow card.

Three minutes later Sene-Lefao took McShane's pass to cross for the match-winning try and McShane kicked his fifth goal from as many attempts to wrap up the scoring.

Match reaction

Castleford coach Daryl Powell on his under-strength side's performance: "It's a big win for us. I'm absolutely delighted for the players, it's the first tight game we've won this year. It was always going to be a difficult game for all sorts of reasons and we started a little bit edgy.

"I thought Huddersfield were great, they really came after us. It forced us to change the way we played a little bit but the second half was fantastic for us.

"We had another combination of halves out there once Rangi left the field and it was always going to be awkward attacking but our guts and determination was huge."

On Jake Webster being sin-binned for a professional foul before Danny Brough was also shown a yellow card three minutes later for an alleged "cannonball" tackle: "It was a poor call and it looked like it was going to cost us until Danny Brough did what he did and that evened up the leger."

Huddersfield coach Rick Stone on his side's performance: "Generally in footy you get what you deserve but don't think we got what we deserved tonight. We had a couple of big calls go against us that were the difference in the game. The effort and the way we controlled the game was pretty good for most of the time.

"I'll have to look at the Danny Brough sin-binning but that was a big call in the heat of the game. There's a few things I'll take up with the referees' department.

"But I'm happy with the effort and how we had a crack. I feel we did enough to earn two competition points which are valuable to us at the moment. We just need a bit of luck."

On Jake Mamo: "I always knew Jake was going to be okay for us. He came a bit injured and I was disappointed it's taken while to get on the park and contribute but I always had faith.

"He's a good little competitor and bobs up at the right places and could have scored four or five if play went the right way for him. If he was in the Premier League, he'd be called a goal sneak. He knows where to be, his anticipation is terrific."