Castleford Tigers' boss Craig Lingard left to rue costly high tackles at Salford Red Devils

The Tigers had overturned a 12-6 half-time deficit to lead 16-12 after an hour at the Salford Community Stadium but then saw the hosts take command with three tries in the final quarter.

Castleford – chasing a fourth successive win for the first time in over two years – paid a heavy price for two spells with only 12 men after yellow cards for Liam Horne and Sylvester Namo for high tackles.

Those periods saw them concede three tries as Ryan Brierley scampered over before the break while Oliver Partington – the victim in both sin binnings – and Chris Hankinson claimed decisive scores after the break.

Nene Macdonald and Ethan Ryan also crossed for Salford while Marc Sneyd landed five goals. Jason Qareqare claimed two of the Tigers’ four tries.

“The two 10-minute periods when we were down to 12 we conceded points, and ultimately they’re the periods in the game where we lost,” said Lingard.

“We weren’t good enough to win that game if we’re perfectly honest.

“We lacked a lot of what we’ve shown in the last few games and Salford were excellent. We were a little bit too passive.

“I think it’s maybe a measure of where we started the season to where we are now that we’re disappointed with what we dished up.”

Salford, who handed a debut to new signing Jayden Nikorima following his recent release by Catalans Dragons, started well but it was Castleford who struck first as Qareqare touched down from a Rowan Milnes kick.

Milnes converted but Salford drew level when Macdonald crashed through four attempted tackles from a Sneyd pass.

Sneyd added the extras and thought he had created another try when his crossfield kick was taken by Macdonald but the Salford centre was ruled to have knocked on.

Salford did get themselves in front before the break as they made a numerical advantage count after Horne’s late hit on Partington.

Brierley darted over in the corner from a Joe Mellor pass following a scrum. Sneyd’s goal extended the advantage to six at the interval.

Cas responded strongly after the restart and reclaimed the lead as they exploited weak defending to score twice on the Salford left.

Qareqare grabbed the first of them and his second of the game after good work by Corey Hall before Elie El-Zakhem broke from dummy half and skipped over a challenge to dive over.

Yet Milnes could only convert one of the two and the game swung back in Salford’s favour after Ryan intercepted deep inside his own half and raced close to the length of the field to score.

Sneyd’s goal nudged Salford back ahead by two points and Cas were again made to rue a sin binning after Namo saw yellow for a high shot on Partington.

Partington, although bandaged from his earlier clash, showed no ill effects as he hit a short pass at speed to score and the game was effectively wrapped up as Hankinson finished off a sweeping move soon after.

Luis Johnson beat some weary challenges to reduce the deficit, with Milnes converting, but it proved only a consolation.

“I thought we were fantastic,” said Salford coach Paul Rowley. “I thought our performance was really good.”