CASTLEFORD TIGERS went down 20-10 to Leigh Leopards tonight at The Jungle in an error-ridden affair.
The Tigers actually led 4-0, but the Leopards registered 20 unanswered points to put too much distance between themselves and Craig Lingard’s men.
Lingard had this to say after the fixture: “It’s potentially one that’s got away, we started the game really positively and executed what we said we would in terms of completing high and ending our sets deep.
“We did really well at the start and, as the game wore on, I thought a couple of errors and penalties crept into our game and they began to start their sets in our half.
“They got on the front foot a little bit and some of the tries we conceded were soft with Zak Hardaker skipping across.
“The turning point was Tex Hoy being held up and then Edwin Ipape going the full length.
“We should have scored that try and then they went up the field 40 seconds later and we were 14-4 down.”
Lingard also praised Fletcher Rooney on his home debut after the youngster scored a try four minutes in – and the Castleford boss revealed that more young players will be blooded for the Tigers this season.
“I don’t think he could have dreamed for a better start to his debut just four minutes in. I was really pleased for Fletch, he’s worked really hard to get where he is.
“I will potentially see us using more young players between now and the end of the season. We will see how Jason’s hamstring is. It’s about chucking some of the younger players in that we are looking to develop over the next few years.
“We are hoping they start to play a big future in Castleford Tigers and the only way they can do that is by playing.”
Lingard also touched upon any potential incomings as well as Sylvester Namo’s yellow card for a dangerous throw on 75 minutes.
“There will be no incomings, there are a couple of players speaking about going out on loan but we are low numbers wise.
“We were down to 19 fit players so we can’t be letting too many people go.
“I didn’t see a lot wrong with what Sylvester did but we will see what happens with the disciplinary.”
The Tigers boss does believe his side had enoughb to win.
“With my coach’s head on, it’s massively disappointing because we have lost when we could have potentially win.
“I think in the second-half, we lost our way with some of our attacking sets. We need some of our spine players to take over the game and be a bit more dominant.
“But I still felt we created opportunities we could have nailed.”
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