Five star Miski sees Wigan Warriors close in on League Leaders Shield

It was a crucial night in Super League regarding battles at both ends of the table and that was certainly the case at the DW Stadium with Castleford Tigers knowing a win would ensure their safety, whilst hosts Wigan Warriors knew that a victory would bring them one game closer to beating out Catalans Dragons and St Helens to the League Leaders Shield.

In their bid for survival Castleford made a number of changes including the return of Liam Horne from suspension, whilst youth was backed again on the wings in the form of Elliot Wallis and Jason Qareqare.

As for Wigan they were without the injured Liam Byrne but there appeared to be rests for Brad O’Neill and Liam Farrell, with neither playing featuring and Sam Powell and Junior Nsemba taking their starting roles.

Abbas Miski continued his electric form by crossing over inside five minutes courtesy of a Toby King pass wide to the corner.

The Lebanese star added his second just minutes later when he claimed a Bevan French kick before touching down.

Another man in brilliant try scoring form is Jake Wardle and he bagged one for himself when he combined with his wing partner Liam Marshall to score, making the lead 14-0 inside 20 minutes.

Castleford did hit back through their own star winger Jason Qareqare with the youngster being the beneficiary of a well worked scrum play.

Miski completed his hattrick just after the half hour mark and he added a fourth just before the half time whistle, both kicks being missed meaning the Warriors extended their lead to 22-6.

It also saw Miski draw level as Super League’s top try scorer with Josh Charnley, both men on 26 tries.

The half time hooter also saw Harry Smith leave the field, presumably rested and allowed Ryan Hampshire to get some minutes into his legs, and Hampshire was needed almost immediately as he converted Sam Powell’s try just minutes into the second half.

Kai Pearce-Paul continued his own run of strong form by adding a try just after the half time hooter for a second week running courtesy of a Jai Field line break.

Things went from bad to worse for Castleford when Blake Austin was sin binned just before the hour mark and minutes into the man advantage Jai Field broke the line again to dart through and score.

Hampshire’s conversion made it 38-6 on the hour mark just before Abbas Miski was denied a fifth as he was ruled in touch when diving in at the corner.

Bevan French wouldn’t be denied though in the 71st minute as he broke from halfway to run through and score, extending the lead to 44-6 with Hampshire’s conversion comfortably knocked over.

A 40/20 from Sam Powell then ensured the pressure remained on and Wigan began to look for 50 points for a second week in a row.

They couldn’t quite register 50 but they did score a tenth try through Abbas Miski’s fifth of the night and 27th of the Super League campaign.

The final result saw Wigan hammer Castleford by a score of 48-6 to close in on the League Leaders Shield.