Castleford Tigers extended their lead at the top of Super League following a hard-fought 26-21 win over Huddersfield Giants.
Daryl Powell’s side, without the influential trio of Luke Gale, Zak Hardaker and Mike McMeeken, spent large parts of the game trailing the Giants, who were inspired by fullback Jake Mamo, who scored a hat-trick to extend a fabulous start to life at the John Smith’s Stadium.
It was the visitors who went ahead through Joel Monaghan, however Huddersfield were 18-12 ahead at the break thanks to Mamo’s treble, while Greg Minikin replied for Cas.
Greg Eden pulled Castleford level with his 15th try of the campaign before Huddersfield nudged ahead again through a Danny Brough field goal and subsequent penalty, which came either side of a Paul McShane penalty that gave Castleford a temporary 20-19 lead.
But the decisive moment came with five minutes remaining as Jesse Sene-Lefao barged over to secure victory for the Tigers.
A full report will be in Monday’s League Express.
Huddersfield: Mamo; McIntosh, Murphy, Mellor, Ormsby; Brough, Wood; Ikahihifo, Wood, Wakeman, Roberts, Ferguson, Hinchcliffe. Subs: O’Brien, Rapira, Smith, Clough.
Castleford: Eden; Minikin, Webster, Shenton, Monaghan; Chase, McShane; Lynch, Milner, Millington, Sene-Lefao, Foster, Massey. Subs: Holmes, Moors, Cook, Springer.
