Powell reacts to Warrington game

Head coach Daryl Powell says his Tigers side “weren’t good enough” to get the two points over the Wolves on Friday night.

The 9-8 loss saw the Tigers fall just short of a third consecutive win in the Betfred Super League after Warrington half back Blake Austin scored the winning drop goal in the final minute to edge the victory for the home side.

Cas had their chances in the game – with Jake Trueman and Danny Richardson both missing drop-goal attempts of their own – but Powell was reflective after the full-time hooter.

“Once it got to the end, we just couldn’t get drop goals! It was pretty tight, wasn’t it? We had our chances but on the balance of play I think they just about deserved to win it,” Powell told www.castlefordtigers.com

“I don’t think we had a lot of composure. I don’t really think we had a lot of composure all night to be honest. But we were in the fight, I thought it was a really determined and tough effort from us, but we sort of lacked our game really.

“It’s always tough to lose in that manner. I’d rather us had played well and lost to be honest but I don’t really think we played that well.

“They kept kicking to our left edge and pinning us in the corner and it took us until the mid-way point of the first half to figure out a way out of it.

“I just thought it was a litany of errors really and we were poor with the ball, so there are some key areas for us to improve moving into what’s going to be a tough game next week.”

Whilst the Tigers’ attack failed to fire against the Wolves, there were plenty of positives to take from the team’s defensive effort at the Halliwell Jones Stadium, particularly with a number of injuries impacting on Powell’s rotation options in the second half.

“It was tough rotation wise: I had to change Millo (Grant Millington) at half-time with an issue he’s had previously with an irregular heartbeat. It’s something he’s had three of four times since he’s been with us and if it settles down he can go back on, which he did.

“Then obviously Pete (Mata’utia) got a head knock so he couldn’t come back on so that then turned into a substitution. We really had some tough bits to deal with and I thought the boys did that really well.”

Forward Oliver Holmes was also subbed off during the game after suffering an ankle injury, with the back rower set for a scan early this week.

“He said he heard a crack, so not sure exactly how bad that is but if you hear a crack in your ankle, it’s certainly not great is it, so we will wait and see.”

The Tigers are next in action against St Helens when they return to action at the Mend-A-Hose Jungle this Sunday (3.30pm).

Tickets for the game are still available to purchase via our retail stores, online at www.castlefordtigers.com/tickets and through official ticket ambassadors.