Liam Marshall’s hat-trick puts sorry Castleford Tigers to the sword

Liam Marshall maintained his impressive start to the Super League season with a hat-trick as Wigan condemned Castleford to their third straight loss with an emphatic 36-0 win.

The homegrown Warriors winger touched down to open the scoring at the end of a tightly-contested first half and from there Matt Peet's men did not look back.

Ethan Havard added a close-range second try early in the second half before Marshall grabbed his second from long range.

Toby King and Jai Field also went over for the visitors before Marshall scored his third in the last minute.

Castleford Tigers' George Lawler in action with Wigan Warriors' Jai Field (Picture: John Clifton/SWPix.com)

Wigan's second win from three Super League games left Castleford still to pick up any points this season, while Marshall's clinical treble took his try tally for the season to eight. He has now scored 103 tries for Wigan, who have responded well to their opening-round defeat at Hull KR.

They thumped Wakefield 60-0 last week and did enough to see off Lee Radford's Tigers, who lost captain Paul McShane to injury early on his 200th appearance for the club.

Castleford began brightly, with prop Albert Vete making his presence felt up front and the recalled Joe Westerman producing some neat offloads.

The Tigers had Wigan pinned inside their own 20-metre line and were in a promising position, only for full-back Niall Evalds to overcook a pass intended for Greg Eden on the left flank.

From there the visitors advanced forward and went close when prop Mike Cooper was held up over the line.

The Warriors continued to probe while Castleford lost influential hooker McShane to injury inside the opening 10 minutes.

It was a major blow to the Tigers favourite on his landmark appearance for the club and he was replaced by Adam Milner.

The home side had a major attacking threat in Gareth Widdop and the close-season signing from Warrington's intricate handling had Wigan on the back foot.

A chance then came Castleford's way when Mahe Fonua tried to send Eden clear but threw the ball into touch.

Castleford: Evalds, Eden, Fonua, Broadbent, Faraimo, Widdop, Miller, Vete, McShane, Lawler, Edwards, Mellor, Westerman. Substitutes: Massey, Milner, Matagi, Watts.

Wigan: Field, French, King, Wardle, Marshall, Cust, Smith, Singleton, Powell, Cooper, Isa, Farrell, Smithies. Substitutes: Havard, Ellis, Mago, Pearce-Paul.

Referee: Tom Grant (RFL)