Report: Castleford 27-18 Warrington

It was yet another shocking Warrington performance as the Wire fell to back-to-back defeats to heap the pressure on Steve Price and his players.

Wire were thankful that Mike Cooper was passed fit enough to start the match, while Chris Hill returned to the lineup after serving his two-match suspension. The rest of the team remained unchanged apart from at loose forward, where Jason Clark made only his second start for Wire, with Matt Davis dropping to the interchange bench, alongside Joe Philbin, Danny Walker and Lama Tasi. Bafflingly, Harvey Livett and Luis Johnson did not make the squad for this game, which rendered the act to recall them from their loan spells at Hull KR completely unnecessary, and robbed them both of an extra Super League game. Castleford left star prop Liam Watts on the bench in a surprising move, and he was joined by Grant Millington. Paul McShane played at seven alongside Jake Trueman, and Jesse Sene-Lefao started at loose forward. Jordan Rankin continued at full back with Peter Mata'utia at centre in place of Cheyse Blair, who didn't make the squad.

Wire started the game brightly with Toby King getting into a good position out wide, but the decision to go to the flank early on in the tackle count was soon regretted when King was bundled into touch by some strong Castleford defence. Seven minutes in, a good burst from Mike Cooper got Wire close to the line and they were soon awarded a penalty 20 metres out when Mike McMeeken stole the ball. Declan Patton kicked the goal with ease to give Wire a two-point lead early on, though this is not a lead that lasted. The away side were in great possession and territory just outside of the tryline. Blake Austin played a poor ball which went to ground and Trueman collected the loose ball and broke forward, evading a poor tackle attempt from King. Cas found themselves just short of the Wire line and Mata'utia sprung a pass to Rankin, who then found James Clare. The winger beat Tom Lineham for pace with ease and crossed for the game's first try, though it shouldn't have been awarded as there was a clear obstruction on Bryson Goodwin right before the touchdown. Mata'utia converted Clare's score for a 6-2 lead.

Some good Warrington defence laid the platform for a break but this broke down when King lost the ball. Next time Wire had ball in hand, it was a messy set and Jake Mamo concluded the set with a terrible kick on the fifth play right into Rankin's hands. Another needless penalty was conceded when a Wire man was offside, giving Mata'utia the chance to extend the Tigers' lead, which he did with ease and made it 8-2. Another shambolic decision to go out wide by Wire was punished when an offload to keep the ball in play went straight into the hands of McShane, right on the first play. Tuoyo Egodo looked like he'd bagged a try of his own on the half-hour mark but was ruled to have knocked the ball on. Wire got away with one when Rankin outjumped Mamo and claimed Trueman's kick. The ball was passed out wide and they looked to be in again but for a handling error from McMeeken. A shocking tackle by Tasi gave Cas a penalty, and they were awarded another a moment later when Jack Hughes wasn't square at marker. Mata'utia extended the lead to eight with a goal, though Wire finally got moving when a Daryl Clark scoot set up Blake Austin to kick the ball wide. Austin's pinpoint kick fell into the arms of Mamo, who scored in the corner. An excellent conversion from Patton made it 10-8, though Matt Davis ludicrously knocked on from the kick-off. Fortunately, Cas didn't score from the resulting set though Lineham then dropped the ball on the first play. It looked like Wire would go into the interval at 10-8, a reasonable scoreline given the disgraceful performance, though a penalty for holding down by Davis and Tasi allowed Mata'utia to extend the lead to 12-8 right on the hooter.

It was the away side who started the second period better, with a good ball from Austin finding Ben Currie, who sent a lovely pass the way of Tom Lineham. Lineham crossed for a try and levelled the scored. Another superb touchline conversion from Patton gave Warrington the lead again at 12-14. Remarkably, Tasi knocked-on when he returned the kick-off. The former Salford man made another mistake when he conceded a penalty soon after, and then Lineham knocked the ball forward, putting Cas on the Wire 10 metre line. This time the Wire were not so lucky. Cas outnumbered Wire on the left edge and Goodwin couldn't get across quick enough to Greg Minikin, who crossed with ease. Mata'utia missed the conversion but the lead had changed hands in favour of the home side, at 16-14. Then came the game-changing moment. An outstanding break from the ever-brilliant Daryl Clark got Wire well upfield, though a poor offload from Josh Charnley landed on the floor and was picked up by Jake Trueman. Trueman raced away and beat Mamo for pace, before crossing for Castleford's third try of the afternoon. The kick was scored for a 22-14 scoreline. Wire looked like they could score and retake the lead after Clark's sensational break, but seconds later Trueman was crossing down the other end.

The game was over as a contest when Mata'utia found Rankin and then Egodo out wide. Egodo crossed for a simple try and a 26-14 lead. A great carry from Cooper got Wire some yardage, but it was wasted when King capped off an awful performance with a horrendous kick that went dead. Wire earned a repeat set next time out, but this was wasted when Mamo let the ball bounce and Chris Hill didn't take hold of the ball. Wire grabbed a scrappy try when Austin's ball went to ground and King crossed, though Patton missed the conversion, meaning it was still an eight-point deficit. Trueman kicked over a drop-goal right at the end of the game to crown a 27-18 win for the Tigers, and round off an appalling display from Warrington.

This was a disastrous performance which condemned Wire to a fourth defeat in six games and put some real uncertainty over 2nd place. The team are going backwards at a crucial time in the season, and we go into next week's cup semi-final against Hull FC with very low confidence. The likes of Tasi, Jason Clark, Mamo, Hughes, Lineham and Hill are offering poor performances right now, while Toby King put in a stinking show at Cas, and Austin appears to have hit a brick wall in terms of his own displays.

This is getting to be a nasty end to the season and even taking the Hull game out of the equation, the next league fixtures are Catalans away, St Helens at home, Wigan away, Salford away, Wakefield at home and Leeds away. It's likely that we'll need more than three wins to secure 2nd place, and that's not something that seems likely right now.

Our attacking structure has fallen off a cliff, we are far too predictable in attack, and as ever our discipline is downright diabolical. The decision not to include Johnson or Livett in the team was a terrible one, and the lack of leadership from the team's supposed captains continues to be a concern.

Ugh.

It's always our year.

Daniel (@aloosewire)