Castleford boosted their top-four hopes with a 34-20 victory over Widnes at the Mend-A-Hose Jungle on Sunday.
Monday 6 July 2015 13:09, UK
Denny Solomona scored a hat-trick as Castleford boosted their top-four hopes with a 34-20 victory over Widnes at the Mend-A-Hose Jungle.
Solomona has been Super League's deadliest finisher in recent rounds, with his eight tries inspiring the Tigers to four successive wins.
The New Zealand-born winger crossed twice in the first 15 minutes following good work by the returning Luke Dorn, who was celebrating his 250th appearance in the British game.
Jake Webster scored to make it 18-0 but he spent 10 minutes in the sin bin later in the half after questioning the decision to award Jack Owens' try.
Chris Clarkson took advantage of Webster's absence to cut the deficit to eight points but tries either side of half-time from Matt Cook and Justin Carney put Castleford back in control.
Tom Gilmore and Macgraff Leuluai went over to set up an intriguing final 10 minutes but Solomona's third try confirmed a fourth league defeat in a row for Widnes, whose top-eight chances are fading.
Castleford suffered an early blow when Nathan Massey hobbled off but they hit the front as Dorn, on his return after three months out with hamstring problems, evaded Danny Craven with neat footwork before feeding Solomona for a simple finish.
Luke Gale converted from out wide and he had a hand in the Tigers' next try. His high kick was dropped by Rhys Hanbury and from the resultant scrum Dorn again found Solomona, who stepped Owens and showed his athleticism to touch down in the corner.
Struggling
Widnes were struggling with ball in hand in the absence of the influential Kevin Brown and then their defence let them down as Webster barged his way over from dummy half to put the Tigers in full control.
The Vikings needed to score next and they did just that to a chorus of boos when Owens beat Solomona in a one-on-one as Castleford pleaded for a penalty for obstruction in the build-up.
Webster was sin-binned after saying too much to referee Joe Cobb and watched on from the sidelines as Widnes hauled themselves further into the contest through Clarkson's powerful effort from close range.
The Tigers centre was still off the field when Cook took Gale's pass at full tilt to power through Widnes' defence on his way to the line.
The dark clouds rolled in upon the restart but nothing could dampen the spirits of the Castleford supporters, who were celebrating another try when Carney collected Gale's pinpoint kick to score.
Torrential rain was falling when Gilmore took his own kick with the help of a Castleford body and touched down to give the Vikings a glimmer of hope.
Michel Shenton bombed a glorious opportunity to put the Tigers out of reach when he failed to take Dorn's pass with the line at his mercy, and Widnes threatened to make him pay after Leuluai went over from close range.
But Solomona squeezed over in the corner to complete his hat-trick and make it five home wins in a row for Castleford over the Vikings.
