Vs Wildcats

Wakefield Wildcats have made up for their nightmare Good Friday to topple Castleford 32-26 in a thriller at the Etihad.

Peter Fox was a Wildcats try scorer in the second half of the win over the Tigers.

Trinity had six separate try scorers to edge out their arch rivals in blistering heat in Manchester and leap above the Tigers in the Super League table.

Defence went out of the window for both sides in the opening half with 44 points being scored in an entertaining opening to Manchester Magic.

It was unlike the Wildcats to get off to a slow start and they were behind in the opening minutes after Jordan Thompson went over before an 80 metre interception from the returning centre Vince Mellars brought things level at six-a-piece.

Full-back Richard Mathers burrowed his way over to score against his parent club to put Richard Agar’s men ahead.

Both sides exchanged scores until half time with captain Steve Southern scoring his second try of the week and Danny Washbrook also reaching over the whitewash made a half time score line of Wakefield 24-20 Castleford.

The second half was a much cagier affair as both sides defence tightened up as the forwards struggled in the beating sunshine. First blood of the second period went to Wakefield as Peter Fox was the beneficiary of a wicked bounce that fooled the Tigers winger Nick Youngquest.

A well weighted grubber from the influential Tim Smith leapt from the surface and the Australian knocked on before Dean Collis collected and passed infield for Fox to finish.

Castleford captain Danny Orr ensured a dramatic finish to the derby after a well worked try set the veteran clear before he converted his own try.

The man of the match Smith then broke through expertly and dummied and side-stepped his way to the line in a wonderful piece of skill from the half-back. Paul Sykes missed just his second kick of the afternoon which meant Trinity lead 32-16 with less than ten minutes to play.

Their could have been a final twist to the tale as Nathan Massey went over but to be denied for a forward pass in the build-up by the video referee for offside.

The big screen brought a sigh of relief for all concerned with Wakefield Wildcats as Ben Cockayne had a late try ruled out for an earlier infringement by the impressive Mellars.

The Wildcats have now moved up to 11^th place in the table and host London Broncos next Sunday looking to start a run of form up the Super League ladder.

Teams

Wildcats

Mathers, Fox, Collis, Mellars, Cockayne, Sykes, Smith, Amor, Aiton, Raleigh, Mariano, Kirmond, Washbrook. Replacements: Wood, Southern, James, Lauitiiti.

Tigers

Owen, Youngquest, Thompson, Dixon, Williams, Chase, Orr, Jackson, Jones, Huby, Ferres, Holmes, Mitchell. Replacements: Walker, Milner, Millington, Massey.

This is Wakefield. Together We Are Stronger.