Salford Red Devils 23 Castleford Tigers 16: Former Tiger Chase ends Castleford’s unbeaten record

Chase landed the man of the match award after setting up two tries for Andrew Dixon and scoring a late drop goal to seal a late 23-16 victory.

The New Zealander was back in action after suffering a calf injury on his Salford debut against Wakefield in the first match of the campaign.

Salford coach Brian Noble said: “Rangi controlled our left side with great discipline.

“Some people may have been expecting him to do flash things like make 60-metre dashes but you have to remember he’s only played a few minutes this year.

“We should have been further ahead because we bombed a few opportunities.

“But I’m pleased for the players because a few things have been said.

“We are not out of the woods but will grow from this, beating a confident side who were top of the ladder. Shannon McPherson had his best game for us, Lama Tasi was strong and Andrew Dixon was exemplary.

Salford’s other tries came from Martin Gleeson and Greg Johnson with the Tigers clawing their way back from 22-6 down after an hour.

Castleford had Adam Milner sin-binned for a blatant obstruction on Theo Fages with their tries from Justin Carney, Weller Hauraki and ex-Red Luke Dorn.

Marc Sneyd, on loan from Salford, booted two goals with play held up near the end when a female Castleford fan ran onto the pitch to remonstrate with referee James Child.

The Tigers were on the receiving end of a heavy penalty count and coach Daryl Powell said: “I wanted to join the lady to see what was going on.

“We were inconsistent today and so were the officials but we made too many errors in the first half that put us under pressure.

“It was the same at the start of both halves and I’m disappointed because we could have won it with 10 minutes to go.

“We looked the better side but then made the errors. Sometimes when you are unbeaten you know it’s coming and it came today.

“We are going to have to deliver a better performance against London on Thursday.”

Salford Red Devils: Mullaney, Johnson, Gleeson, Sa’u, Meli, Chase, Smith, Morley, Lee, Tasi, Hansen, Dixon, Puletua. Substitutes: Fages, A. Walne, J. Walne, McPherson.

Castleford Tigers: Dorn, Owen, Channing, Shenton, Carney, Sneyd, Finn, Lynch, Clark, Huby, Holmes, Hauraki, Millington. Substitutes: Webster, Milner, Massey, Mariano.

Referee: J Child (RFL).