Wild comeback from 'Cats

Johnson: crossed for the visitors in a dramatic second half

Wakefield produced a superb second-half fightback to secure a thrilling 28-24 win over Castleford in a cracking derby at the PROBIZ Coliseum.

The Wildcats scored 24 points without reply to dash Castleford's hopes of taking over at the Super League summit by the end of Good Friday.

The result avenges the loss to the Tigers on the opening weekend of the season while it also means the Wildcats leap back above Crusaders, who themselves shocked Huddersfield earlier in the day, at the foot of the table.

All this came after the hosts had scored two tries in the opening seven minutes on their way to claiming a 24-4 advantage.

Aiming high

With Huddersfield and St Helens suffering contrasting losses, Castleford knew that a victory over their near-neighbours would take them top.

They made a perfect start when quick interplay between Richard Owen and Richard Mathers allowed the latter to go over unchallenged on the left.

Dixon added the first of his four conversions and was also on target when Martin Aspinwall somehow grounded the ball over the line soon after, despite appearing to be held up by several Wakefield defenders.

Wakefield responded in the 14th minute with their first try of the night. Chris Dean climbed high to claim Tommy Lee's high kick and although under pressure, the centre still managed to ground the ball all in one movement.

Former Castleford prop Liam Higgins thought he had narrowed the deficit even further still but his effort was chalked off for obstruction.

However, John Kear's troops switched off before the break, allowing Jordan Thompson to touch down from Joe Arundel's pass to make the score 18-4 at the half-time break.

When Danny Orr extended the advantage further two minutes after the interval courtesy of a gift from Wakefield full-back Matt Blaymire, Castleford looked home and dry and set to look down on the rest in the top flight.

Comeback

The Wildcats, though, had other ideas, hitting back to notch four sensational tries in the space of 17 minutes. Their first came when stand-off Kieran Hyde exploited a gaping hole in the Cas defence to cruise over.

Josh Griffin added the conversion and then benefited himself from a home error as he was allowed to reel in Hyde's kick to touch down.

Paul Johnson put the game back in the balance when he went under the posts and just five minutes later Frankie Mariano crossed to give Wakefield an astonishing lead.

The former Hull KR player collected Lee's ball over the top to finish and Griffin's fourth goal gave his side a four-point cushion with 12 minutes to go.

Castleford pushed frantically in an attempt to find a response but were unable to stop their opponents from claiming the Adam Watene Trophy.