Shropshire Star

Daryl Powell happy to keep winning ugly until conditions improve

Powell says Castleford are doing “some good things at the moment”.

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Castleford head coach Daryl Powell insists he is content to keep chalking off ugly wins as he waits for conditions to improve.

The Tigers racked up almost 1,000 points as they eased to the League Leaders’ Shield in 2017 but they have had to grind their way through the opening weeks of the new season.

Sunday’s 22-8 victory over Salford was Castleford’s third in a row after suffering a humiliating defeat to St Helens in their Super League opener.

“After round one everybody was questioning us but we’re doing some good things at the moment,” said Powell.

“It’s not fantastic at times but there are some signs that we’re in a good place.

“Three wins from four, we‘re going OK. We’re going to need to improve and get some consistent accuracy to what we’re doing.

“Ultimately it’s about getting two points every week and in the last three games we’ve been able to do that.

“But we’re not kidding ourselves. We know we’ve got to improve over the coming weeks.”

Powell admitted the Tigers suffered from complacency after taking a 20-0 lead into half-time against the Red Devils thanks to tries from Michael Shenton, James Clare and Luke Gale.

But he expects his side to deliver 80-minute performances once the weather turns.

“The heavy conditions made it really slow and there were too many penalties in the game,” said Powell.

“We just couldn’t get going in the second half. But in the first half there were some really promising signs, which we’re showing at the moment in games.

“It’s going to be a few weeks before we get the firmer pitches that help us. We’re a top-of-the-ground team and we haven’t had great conditions so far.”

Salford head coach Ian Watson felt referee Liam Moore’s decision to only show Castleford forward Oliver Holmes a yellow card for an ugly spear tackle on Tyrone McCarthy was a potential turning point.

“Straight away I thought it was worthy of a red card,” said Watson.

“But the referee has seen it differently and he’s right on the spot.

“It potentially would have changed the game, although Castleford managed that 10 minutes really well.”

The Red Devils improved after an error-ridden start and crossed twice in the second half through Junior Sa’u and Jake Bibby to claw back some respectability.

“It’s probably as bad as we’ve been in the first 30 minutes,” said Watson.

“We’ve got to hold each other accountable for that. But in the last 50 minutes we were miles better.”

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