'It's rich reward for them': Daryl Powell dedicates Wembley win to Wakefield Trinity fans

Trinity were relegated last year but are enjoying life outside Super League, with Saturday's 1895 Cup victory underlining their progress under Powell and ambitious owner Matt Ellis.

Wakefield overcame a shaky start to overpower Championship rivals Sheffield Eagles in a 50-6 rout.

"I've lost a couple here so it feels great," said Powell, who was in charge of Castleford Tigers for their Challenge Cup final defeats in 2014 and 2021.

"The boys were class in that second half. The try just before half-time was probably a killer.

"It shows the potential of the club with the thousands of fans that came down. They've supported us well all year so it's rich reward for them, and for the boys and how hard they're working."

The Eagles broke the deadlock in a bright opening but lost their grip on the match when Lachlan Walmsley scored an interception try.

Wakefield went into half-time with an 18-6 lead thanks to Thomas Doyle's last-gasp try and scored six more after the interval.

Luke Gale went home with the man of the match award four years on from his match-winning drop goal for Leeds Rhinos at an empty Wembley.

"Whenever you come to Wembley and get a victory it's fantastic," he said.

"The last time I came there wasn't a soul here to celebrate so it was pretty surreal.

"It was fantastic. The crowd were awesome. We probably had just as many as Warrington brought and not far off what Wigan did as well so credit to them. They've been great all year.

"We put our foot on the throat in the second half. That second half was as good a performance as we've had this year."

Sheffield have a history of Wembley upsets after stunning Wigan Warriors and Widnes Vikings on their previous visits but Anthony Thackeray's opening try was as good as it got for Mark Aston's side in an error-strewn performance.

"I'm bitterly disappointed," said Aston.

"We didn't compete for the 80 minutes. Sometimes in a final, you get the good, bad and the ugly. We had a bit of all that today.

"We competed for 20 minutes and after that it was like Christmas had come early because we presented them with opportunities to score tries quite easily.

"We'll learn our lesson from it and move on."