Salford Red Devils v Castleford Tigers: Promising showing can't be flash in pan, says Craig Lingard

The Tigers took the fight to the defending Super League champions and had them on the ropes before Liam Watts was sent off on the half-hour mark.

From 4-2 down, Wigan scored 30 unanswered points with a man advantage.

Castleford came out of the round one clash with credit but Lingard knows it will count for little if they fail to back the performance up against Salford Red Devils on Sunday afternoon.

"I was more impressed with how we played prior to the red card," said Lingard, who will keep changes to a minimum at the AJ Bell Stadium.

"We were leading 4-2 10 minutes before half-time against the Super League champions, which was a really good effort.

"To play for 50 minutes down to 12 men against a team with as much quality as Wigan have got showed the togetherness, desire and desperation we've been working on and the want to play for the club.

"Our challenge now is to replicate that against Salford, the week after against Warrington and the week after that against Huddersfield. It can't be a flash in the pan."

The Tigers are in the early stages of a rebuild under Lingard after flirting with relegation last year.

Castleford won just six games in a miserable campaign, increasing the need for Lingard's men to get off the mark at the earliest opportunity.

"The quicker we can get a win, the better it's going to be for us," said Lingard.

"We're not lacking confidence at this moment in time but the longer you go without a win, the more it becomes a talking point.

"We're not focusing on the need to get a win; it's about doing the right things more often. I've said a few times to our players this year that it's strange that the more often you do the right things, the luckier you get with a bounce of the ball or a referee's decision."

The officials have been under the spotlight amid a crackdown on head contact.

Lingard has stressed the importance of staying clean and keeping players on the field.

"We said at the start of the season that a lot of games are going to be 12 against 12, 13 against 12, 12 against 11," he added.

"I think that's going to be the case for the first five or six weeks of the season.

"That's something we need to control as much as we possibly can."

Like Castleford, Salford made a losing start to the season after suffering a narrow defeat at Leeds Rhinos.

"They're going through their own transition period after losing the quality of players they've lost," said Lingard.

"They're learning a little bit about themselves as well with the new combinations.

"It could be another attritional battle so we need to make as few errors as possible and make sure our defence and attitude are good to outwork Salford."

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