CASTLEFORD TIGERS went down 36-18 to Hull FC yesterday afternoon.
It was even more disappointing from a Castleford point of view given the fact that the scores were locked at 8-8 at half-time.
Two quickfire Hull tries in the opening seven minutes took the game away from the Tigers, with Castleford switching off straight after the break.
For Tigers’ boss Andy Last, it was frustrating as he referenced a “dubious” call that disrupted his players, with their mentality failing to recover.
“It’s really frustrating. We felt like we were in a good space going into half time. There were just a couple of things we felt we needed to touch on but we didn’t go out and execute what we spoke about like tidying up our ball control,” Last said.
“The (Chris) Satae barge-over try is very dubious, whether he got it down or not but we have to show more resilience.
“At the kick-off, we’re still worrying about not getting the call off the referee. They go back-to-back and suddenly the scoreboard pressure is on you and we’re chasing the game.
“Even after that, we get back in the game we then can’t take the kick-off and they score from that.”
Last believes that his players need to become more tough mentally. “We just aren’t quite resilient and tough enough mentally to deal with that pressure and those mistakes when they happen.
“When you’re in that confident headspace and in that zone you don’t let things rattle you. You just get on with the next job and stick to the process.
“There’s a little bit of negativity and a feeling that everything is against us. We need to be better than that.”
The Tigers boss was also asked whether his side have what it takes to beat relegation.
“Definitely,” he continued.
“The last three weeks there have been moments in the contest where we’re right in it but due to a lack of confidence and playing personnel we haven’t been able to nail them. The good teams do.”