Castleford Tigers Supporters Club

The Tigers continued their tremendous away form and in doing so, leap-frogged neighbours Wakefield to go 6th in the Superleague table and extended the winning run to 4 matches, after a 20-12 win at The Hearwell Stadium (Belle Vue).

Returning to the scene of one of the Tigers darkest days, when relegated in 2006, they avenged the Good Friday defeat with Joe Westerman, who stood on the terraces in 2006, the hero with a 100% kicking display with 2 conversions and crucially 4 penalty goals to seal the win.

Westerman wasn't on his own as Dean Widders scored a brace of tries, each time supporting Rangi Chase whilst ex-Tiger Danny Brough scored all 12 points for the home side with 2 converted tries.

With Brett Ferres sitting out the game due to suspension, Terry Matterson shuffled his pack with Craig Huby moving from prop to 2nd row alongside Ryan Clayton. Liam Higgins came in at prop to form a powerful looking front row alongside Mitchell Sargent and skipper Ryan Hudson. Widders retained his centre spot whilst there was a recall for James Evans who took a place on the bench after missing the last few with an injury.

For the Wildcats former Cas men Brough and Michael Korkidas were in the starting line up whilst a strong bench featured; Brad Drew, Dale Ferguson, Richard Moore and James Stosic. Skipper Jason Demetriou started at stand off.

A dream start saw Cas 6-0 up inside 2 minutes as a Chase 'show 'n' go' saw the Kiwi stand off cut through before sending the supporting Widders in with only 67 seconds on the clock, Westerman converting.

More Cas pressure saw a Chase kick forced dead by Aaron Murphy before Brough took on the Cas line, shrugging off Clayton before stepping fullback Richard Owen for a try under the posts. His conversion levelled the scores at 6 apiece.

Chase almost edged the Tigers back in front after a neat bit of individual play but lost the bal when trying to score. A Westerman penalty on 36 minutes, when a Wakefield player was penalised for dissent, edged Cas in front giving them a slender 2 point advantage at the break.

The 2nd half started in much the same as the opening half when a Sean Gleeson knock on gited the Tigers good field position. Chase again was the architect supplying the final pass for Widders to crash over from close range. With Westerman again on target Cas were now 14-6 up.

Another Westerman penalty when Matt Blaymire was ruled not to have played the ball correctly after a Chase kick extended the lead before Brough went in for a second, timing his angled run perfectly to accept a long pass from Drew. Again the scrum half converted to reduce the deficit to 4 points.

Moments later Brough turned villain when penalised for interference at a play the ball and again Westerman goaled to increase the margin before a Wakefield attack saw Demetriou send Gleeson towards the corner. The Wildcats threequarter looked a certain scorer only for Evans to tackle him into touch in fine style.

A Brough 40-20 attempt went out on the full giving Cas a good position and a Chase drop goal effort was off target as the visitors looked to seal the win. As Wakefield toiled to get back on terms a high kick by Brough fell to Scott Grix who found Moore only a few metres from the line. Instead of utilising the the overlapping support, the big prop went for glory and was unable to ground the ball as Kirk Dixon magnificentl stopped him in his tracks.

A Grix break saw Huby tackle the supporting Blaymire without the ball and the Cas man was lucky to to spend the closing stages in the sin bin. Brough's kick on the last tackle was forced dead and when Demetriou was penalised for a high tackle with only a minute or so on the clock Westerman kept his cool to slot over the final points of the game. Final score Wakefield 12 Cas 20

A typically tense derby with both sides making plenty of errors due to the greasy conditions. Cas did enough to earn the points and with another good defensive effort they will go into next Sunday's midday meeting with Hull KR in confident mood. With only 5 games of the regular season remaining the Tigers now sit in 6th place on the ladder. After Hull KR there is a break for the Challenge Cup Semi-Finals before Cas end their campaign with away fixtures at Leeds and Harlequins whilst Wigan and Celtic Crusaders have still to visit The Jungle.

Tigers: Owen, Dixon, Shenton, Widders, Wainwright, McGoldrick, Chase, Sargent, Hudson, Higgins, Huby, Clayton, Westerman. Subs: Jones, Feather, Evans, Netherton.  

Wildcats: Blaymire, Grix, Gleeson, Atkins, Murphy, Demetriou, Brough, Bibey, Obst, Korkidas, Snitch, Wilkes, Henderson. Subs: Stosic, Drew, Moore, Ferguson.

Referee: Ian Smith                               Attendance: 8371

Normytigers Man of the Match

1st Joe Westerman 3 points

2nd Dean Widders 2 points

3rd Rangi Chase 1 point