Ryan Carr questions referees after Castleford Tigers run on empty in defeat to Leigh Leopards

Andy Hampson, Press Association

Leigh coach Adrian Lam admitted the result was all that mattered after his side held on for a nervy 24-18 win over Castleford on Saturday.

The Leopards were far from their best but, bolstered by two tries from David Armstrong, did enough to eke out a ninth win in 11 games and maintain their Betfred Super League play-off push.

Lam was pleased how his players adapted after losing Frankie Halton to injury and Bailey Hodgson to illness on the day of the game.

Lam told Sky Sports: “It upsets the rhythm of the team but I was disappointed with the way we played.

“I just thought we just dipped our toe in and didn’t really get amongst everything that we worked really hard for, and hence, we kept them in the game.

“I thought they did some good stuff, Castleford, and if you allow them to do that they can hurt you.

“At the end of the day we got the two points, so we’ll take that. It’s nice that we’ve got the result and keep progressing up the ladder.”

Lam’s son Lachlan opened the scoring for Leigh and had a hand in two other tries, with Umyla Hanley also touching down and Adam Cook landing four goals.

Despite a lengthy injury list, Lam feels the team should be confident of breaking into the top six.

He said: “We need to be confident. We’ve done it tough for the majority of the season, and again today.

“I think there’s a lot of home games for us, so it is in our hands, but we’ve got a lot of work to do after today.”

Castleford were far stronger than the side hammered 48-6 by rivals Wakefield at Magic Weekend.

Tries from Sam Hall and Mikaele Ravalawa pegged Leigh back after their bright start and another effort from Phoenix Laulu-Togaga’e set up a tense finish.

Castleford were also aggrieved when Jason Qareqare had a try disallowed – for a second time in the game – for obstruction late on and by a sin-binning for Louis Senior.

“We deserved to win that, period,” said Tigers coach Ryan Carr.

Senior was shown a yellow card for high contact on Armstrong.

Carr said: “We went down to 12 men for a guy who tripped into a guy. I don’t know where Louis Senior is meant to go. What’s he meant to do? Come on.”

Asked about the second Qareqare non-try, he said: “It’s a try.”

Castleford were also forced into a late change when Krystian Mapapalangi was injured in the warm-up.

Carr said: “The effort was unreal. They tipped a lot into that. We’re down on troops but they competed really hard.”