News

Posted: Tuesday 13th July 2021

Cas’ road to Wembley

Castleford Tigers’ date with destiny at Wembley Stadium is just around the corner as they take on Saint Helens for Challenge Cup glory this Saturday.

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The Fords’ journey to the big dance has been one of drop goals and drama and we should be in for another memorable occasion at the national stadium.

Castleford’s path to get to this stage of the competition has not been plain sailing as their first two fixtures in the competition went down to Golden Point shootouts.

First up was Hull KR in the third round where they found themselves 32 points to 18 down as the game was edging ever closer to its conclusion.

The fixture was an enthralling encounter at Craven Park with a total of 12 tries being scored, however, it was Jordan Turner’s effort after the final hooter that was the most telling. The 32-year-old, off a bit of Paul McShane magic, levelled the tie and it was Gareth O’Brien who slotted the ball between the posts to win it in the 99th minute after FOUR periods of extra time.

Next it was the Quarter-final at Emerald Headingley. Salford Red Devils were the opposition and once again it was a nail-biting affair.

As the 80 minutes drew closer, Cas who were leading, had to withstand huge amounts of Salford pressure, but the Red Devils made the breakthrough with just a few seconds left. Their captain Lee Mossop somehow got the ball down over his head to take the game to extra time.

After an incredible McShane drop goal charge down, the Tigers set up in front of the Salford posts and it was O’Brien who was the Golden Point hero again to secure Cas’ passage to the semi-final.

Leigh Valley Sports Village was the location for both men’s semi-finals and Warrington Wolves were the adversary this time around.

Super League Champions St Helens had already booked their place at Wembley having beaten Hull FC earlier in the day, but it was now the Tigers’ turn to take centre stage. Wire had got the better of Daryl Powell’s side in the league just a couple of weeks prior, however, Cas started fast and threw down the gauntlet from the opening whistle.

The Fords opened the scoring through O’Brien just after the 15-minute mark as the half-back darted over from close in. The 29-year-old converted his own try shortly after and an additional penalty opportunity for an 8-point lead. Niall Evalds then provided the perfect pass for Turner to dive over for Cas’ second of the day.

It was a first half to savour, with the Tigers on fire going down the left edge again to Turner who acrobatically got the ball down in the corner for his second. With just a minute left of the first half Paul McShane saw the opportunity to grab an extra point and got enough on his drop goal to take the scores to 19-0 at half-time.

Warrington came out firing in the second period with two quick fire tries from Ben Currie and Jake Mamo. Cas then responded in the best possible way, and it was a perfect delayed pass from Evalds that unlocked the door for Jesse Sene-Lefao to score.

Wolves were still scrapping for everything though, and it was Widdop who provided the pass for Toby King to cut the Tigers’ deficit. The second-half turned into a slugfest, with both landing heavy blows and Castleford’s time came again with two tries in quick succession as Turner went over for his hat-trick. This was followed by Paul McShane and Alex Foster linking up together – both those scores came whilst being a man down!

Josh Charnley gave Wolves a late lifeline in the corner, but Cas nudged themselves to Wembley with a penalty to make it 35-20.

The clock ticked down, Cas ground out a memorable victory and secured their place at the Challenge Cup Final for the first time since 2014, and the chance to put a storybook ending on Daryl Powell’s time in charge of the Tigers.

Saturday will be a momentous occasion for the club and the town as a whole. We can’t wait to see you paint the capital in Cas colours and roar the lads on!