Wigan survived the first-half dismissal of Richard Mathers to defeat battling Wakefield 32-22 with a backs-to-the-wall performance at the JJB Stadium.

The former Leeds full-back was given his second red card of the season two minutes before the break by referee Ben Thaler for leading with an elbow as he attempted to fend off Wildcats back rower Jason Demetriou, which tarnished an otherwise solid half for the Warriors.

Tries from overseas trio Tim Smith, Thomas Leuluai and Cameron Phelps had opened up a 16-4 lead after two Danny Brough penalties edged the visitors ahead early on but it was pure grit and determination that ensured the Warriors stayed ahead in a tense second 40 minutes.

Wakefield hit back through Danny Sculthorpe, Duncan MacGillivray and Oliver Wilkes but Mickey Higham and a late effort from Joel Tomkins sealed the points for Brian Noble's men.

"We were well in control and probably what we did with the ball at the start of that second half gave them a bit of a sniff," was the Wigan coach's verdict.

"But I thought to cut that out and to get over the try line a couple more times was pretty impressive from us.

"We kept believing and it wasn't exactly pretty in the second half but we held them out, which was good."

Substitute Jordan Tansey grabbed a hat-trick of tries as reigning champions Leeds destroyed bottom club Castleford 54-12 in their final home game of the regular season last Friday.

The Rhinos had eight different try scorers as they turned on the style to draw level with leaders St Helens, who visit Harlequins tomorrow, while the outclassed Tigers look certain to collect the wooden spoon after conceding a half-century of points for the fifth time this year.

The final touches to a one-sided match were applied by England second rower Gareth Ellis, who rounded off what could have been his final appearance at Headingley with a last-minute conversion of Tansey's third try.

Leeds were simply awesome at times but they were aided by a disastrous start from the visitors, who had hooker Scott Moore sin-binned in the third minute and conceded two tries in his absence.

"I'm still trying to work out why we got a man sent to the sin bin," said Castleford coach Terry Matterson. "I'm very frustrated with that. We really didn't get a chance."