CASTLEFORD TIGERS head coach Craig Lingard has had his say following his side’s 26-22 loss to Salford Red Devils this afternoon.
The Tigers were down 12-0 after ten minutes and Lingard lambasted the start his players made to the game.
“I thought we started the game poorly, the first set we had the ball in hand and then we did eight or nine sets defensively on the bounce,” Lingard said.
“If you give a team that much possession then the dam will break eventually. I’m really disappointed with how we started but there are loads of lessons we need to learn from that.
“I can’t fault the application or desire that we can control. We need to be a bit better with our execution and recognition of parts where momentum is key. We scored and then lost two kick-offs, giving the momentum back to Salford.”
Lingard believes that his side will only get better going forward.
“That fluidity and execution in attack will get better. We will get better when Paul McShane comes back into the team, Alex Mellor is still out and there are one or two others that haven’t come back into the team yet.
“Once we get through the season, that’s the best ground we have played on in terms of firmness, the harder the ground the better we will get but we need to score more points than the opposition.
“One of our goals we set at the start of the season is conceding 16 or less points in a game because we back ourselves to score 18. We are pretty happy with where we have got with ball in hand.”
Danny Richardson failed his HIA which rules the halfback out of Castleford’s fixture against Warrington Wolves on Friday whilst Jason Qareqare needed his ankle strapping.
“Danny Richardson failed his HIA and will be sat down for a minimum of 12 days. He might have an outside chance of the Huddersfield game.
“We had Rowan Milnes on the bench so he slotted straight into that halfback slot. It didn’t impact too much on our rotation, I don’t think that injury had any impact.
“Jason Qareqare had his ankle strapped and Charbel Tasipale seems to pick up a niggle every ten or 15 minutes.”
Lingard also praised Samy Kibula on his Tigers debut.
“Samy was good. He did what he needed to do with that short burst. He has some good footwork and can play as well.
“Hopefully he more minutes he gets the better he will be.”
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