Video: Castleford Tigers ‘unrecognisable’ in second-half collapse, says Powell

They were on a five-game winning run yet squandered a 14-6 interval lead to lose 21-18 at KC Stadium yesterday.

“The second half was as bad I’ve seen since I’ve been in charge,” said Powell.

“It was abysmal and after being 14-6 up we were unrecognisable.

“It always hurts coach when you think the opponents want to win it a bit more but I think it was evident they (Hull) did looking at that second half and we made too many errors.

“I just don’t know what we were trying to achieve.

“We had a big opportunity today and we are asking questions as to why we didn’t take that.

“I’ve asked them if they want to be a top-four team or if they’re happy just being top eight.

“We’ve handed back the ascendancy to Huddersfield to take fourth now.

“We are still in a good spot but we need to learn lessons with two tough games left – Wakefield away is much harder than it was earlier in the season and Warrington at home, too.”

Powell admitted his side missed the “control” of scrum-half Luke Gale’s who was ill.

They also missed his goalkicking quality, too, with replacement Liam Finn managing just one of his four attempts.

Powell added: “We ran out of gas.

“We found some at the end and had chance to win it but we didn’t deserve to.

“Credit to Hull. They found a way. I wondered if we took them lightly when we saw the teamsheet and they had Gaz Ellis, Mark Minichiello and Mickey Paea missing.

“But if we did, we shouldn’t have and we have to look at our motivation levels.”