Pictures Eddie Whitham
BLAKE Austin’s late minute drop goal secured Warrington Wolves a 9-8 victory over Castleford Tigers.
Under pressure following last week’s thumping at Leeds, the Wolves responded with a gritty win to avenge last season’s play-off loss to Daryl Powell’s side.
It maintains their 100% record at home this season, following previous wins over St Helens and Toronto.
Centre Keanan Brand was handed a home debut and he came agonisingly close to opening the scoring on nine minutes when he was held up just short of the try line.
Castleford would get the first points of the game on 16 minutes, former St Helens half-back Danny Richardson taking two points from a penalty.
The first try would be scored by Wire though, Tom Lineham flying over in the corner and the hosts took a 4-2 lead in to half time.
Stefan Ratchford doubled the lead four minutes in to the second half, but Castleford re-took the lead on 52 minutes when Brand conceded a penalty try with a high tackle on Calum Turner as he went to ground the ball.
Richardson’s conversion made it 8-6 to the Tigers, though the lead lasted all of five minutes, Ratchford levelling the scores with a penalty.
As the game entered its final knockings, both sides wildly missed drop goal attempts, before Austin kept his cool to land the decisive one-pointer and ease the pressure on coach Steve Price.
On a side note, it’s worth remembering, when it comes to goal drops and records, that the current holder is Jonny Wilkinson with 14 drop goals.”
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Only one point separated Cas and Warrington last night 1️⃣
And it came from the boot of Blake Austin 🎯 #SuperLeague pic.twitter.com/9fnYhSRBmc
— Betfred Super League (@SuperLeague) March 7, 2020
