Salford City Reds 22 Castleford Tigers 28: Tigers hold off Salford's rally to set up tilt for the play-offs

Cas led 22-6 at the break after a first-half hat-trick by Dean Widders, while Craig Huby also touched down for the visitors.

Salford battled back through tries by Stuart Littler, Jodie Broughton and Ian Sibbit to make it 22-22 with 20 minutes left.

But Brett Ferres's 74th-minute try ensured the Tigers backed up Tuesday's 24-20 win over Catalan Dragons and moved within three points of the top eight.

"We highlighted that this was a really important week in our season," said Matterson.

"If we didn't get the results we wanted then it'd make the last nine games fairly tough and we've worked really hard.

"The wins haven't been easy, they were both by small margins, but we have lost games from those positions at other times so we're really pleased.

"I was happy with the mixture between playing open rugby and our composure - we haven't seen a lot of that from us this year."

Cas raced into a 16-0 lead inside 16 minutes, with Widders claiming two tries in the opening five minutes before Huby crashed over.

Salford finally got going with Karl Fitzpatrick pulling a try back but versatile Australian Widders, currently playing at stand-off, then capped a fine first-half performance by completing his first Super League hat-trick.

Salford started the second half strongly with two tries within six minutes of the restart.

The Reds levelled after Daniel Holdsworth sparked the move for Sibbit's try and their star scrum-half converted to level things up but Ferres burst through to seal victory.

Salford City Reds: Fitzpatrick, Broughton, Talau, Gibson, Tyrer, M. Smith, Holdsworth, Boyle, Alker, Sidlow, Sibbit, Littler, Swain. Substitutes: J. Smith, Parker, Adamson, Leuluai.

Castleford Tigers: McGoldrick, Dixon, Arundel, Ferres, Wainwright, Widders, Chase, Higgins, Hudson, Sargent, Huby, Snitch, Westerman, Jackson. Substitutes: Jones, Thompson, Wood, Jackson.

Referee: Steve Ganson (St Helens).