Here's how the action unfolded as Castleford Tigers fought back to win 24-18 at York Knights

It was a scrappy game and Tigers were poor in the second-quarter when they went from 12-6 up to 18-12 behind, but a much improved effort after the break secured them the points.

A few things went Castleford’s way; they succeeded with a couple of important captain’s challenges and both penalties (eight-three) and set-restarts (four-one) were heavily in their favour, but they showed good character to fight back and dominate most of the final 40 minutes, despite being a man down at one stage.

Tigers made a terrific start, going ahead after six minutes when George Hirst ran a clever line on to Daejarn Asi’s pass. Tom Weaver added the two, but Cas lost the ball from the restart and on the final play Paul McShane darted from acting-half and King Vuniyayawa took the pass to crash over for a try which Cody Hunter improved.

The visitors received four penalties and two set-restarts in the opening 17 minutes and Weaver booted the fourth of those penalties to nudge them back in front. In the next set Marcus Qareqare somehow forced his way over at the corner from a pass by Krystian Mapapalangi after Weaver, Asi and Phoenix Laulu-Togaga’e - who was impressive in his second Tigers appearance - had handled.

That was unconverted and York levelled again 13 minutes before the break when, for the second time, Cas cracked on the last tackle, Sam Wood going over after Scott Galeano batted back a lofted pass by Hunter, who added the conversion.

That was in a penalty set and a six-again led to York’s third try eight minutes later, Galeano squeezing in by the flag from Jesse Dee’s pass. Hunter’s touchline goal gave the hosts a six-point lead.

Laulu-Togaga’e -known as PLT – had a touchdown ruled out by video official James Vella - for a knock-on by Alex Mellor - after an on-field call of ‘no try’ from Marcus Griffiths at the start of the second period. But Tigers succeeded with a captain’s challenge on York’s line soon afterwards and Renouf Atoni got over from close range, though the conversion was missed.

The visitors got their noses in front when Brock Greacen capped a strong game with try, Weaver added the extras and then landed a penalty with 17 minutes left to make it 24-18. That made the penalty count eight-two in Cas’ favour, but they found themselves a man down three minutes later when Hirst was sin-binned for a high shot on Justin Sangare.

York applied some pressure against 12 men, but Cas did a good job defending their line and will take confidence from a second half clean sheet after conceding 50 points in each of their previous two games.

York Knights: Mata’afa, Galeano, Wood, Buchanan, Nofoaluma, Hunter, Roberts, Martin, McShane, Vaughan, Foster, Dee, Vuniyayawa. Subs Balmforth, Va’a, Sangare, Hingano.

Castleford Tigers: Laulu-Togaga’e, McIntosh, Cini, Mapapalangi, Qareqare, Asi, Weaver, Dupree, Golding, Stimpson, Hirst, Mellor, Lane. Subs Atoni, Lawler, Greacen, Robb.

Referee: Marcus Griffiths (Widnes).