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Lee Radford explains why Castleford Tigers were unable to get past St Helens in disappointing but valiant defeat

St Helens took on Castleford Tigers this afternoon at the Totally Wicked Stadium, live on Channel 4.

Curtis Sironen opened the scoring early on following a Bureta Faraimo mistake before Morgan Knowles stretched over in exactly the same fashion.

The Tigers had absolutely nothing of the ball in the first-half with Liam Watts’ sinbin for a late tackle on Jonny Lomax compounding Castleford’s problems, but they finally began getting their hands on the ball towards the back end of the half only to be stopped by resolute Saints defence.

Tommy Makinson added a penalty after the break to make it 14-0 before Joe Batchelor scored a controversial try with the ball appearing to come away from his grasp.

20-0 down and Castleford had to score next – and they did just that with Bureta Faraimo in the corner. And, the blockbusting winger had enough to force his way over once more minutes later as the Tigers reduced the deficit to 12.

Faraimo got his hat-trick three minutes from the end, but this time Paul McShane couldn’t convert as they trailed 20-12 and that’s the way the game ended.

Castleford head coach Lee Radford believed there was a bit of a gulf in class which was eventually the difference.

“We had a crack we were a little but disjointed and they were as well,” Radford said live on Channel 4.

“The errors were uncharacteristic but at least they had a dig – solely based on effort there was a response on effort but I thought the quality showed a lot.”

It means that Castleford now have to look over their shoulders at the chasing pack for the Super League play-offs with the likes of Hull FC, Hull KR and Salford Red Devils breathing down their necks.

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