VIDEO - Daryl Powell hails spirited Castleford Tigers after Reds win

The 32-18 victory was their first in four outings and came despite being without a raft of high-calibre players.

Powell said: “We’re starting to get our just desserts now.

“We’ve copped some unwarranted stick (when losing) with 11 or 12 on the sidelines and we’ve got players finding their feet again.

“Today showed there’s a fair bit of spirit in this group.”

Man-of-the-match Paul McShane was a revelation after switching from hooker to scrum-half in place of Luke Gale, the captain sidelined late on Thursday due to a hamstring strain.

The hosts also saw Luke Dorn pull out during the warm-up but Powell added: “It was a good team we still had out there when we looked at it.

“There’s a few people playing out of position and we’ve copped a fair bit of criticism for some of our selections but Paul McShane justified what we did. We looked great on the team-run, we looked like a team functioning well and we had to change the way we played.

“I thought Macca was exceptional. But as soon as we put him there I said ‘if we win, he’ll get man of the match’.

“He’s a composed player and when you play in a different position it brings something else out of you – I’ve experienced that in the past.

“Maybe half-backs aren’t as valuable as they think they are!

“Credit to the guys, they never gave up; their commitment, effort and attitude was a big plus for us – everyone played well.”

Salford head coach Ian Watson conceded: “Cas’ were the better team.

“They ended up bullying us.”