VIDEO - Salford 20 Castleford 22: Tigers forced to cling on as Devils fight back

Iestyn Harris’s side was missing 14 players through injury and suspension and they then lost another three during yesterday’s game.

Considering their plight, in the end more credit went to Salford who showed plenty of spirit and no little guile in trying to force an unlikely win.

Robson’s score in the 63rd minute should have seen Castleford home comfortably enough as Luke Gale converted for a 22-10 lead and their busted opponents were down to the bare bones with Liam Hood (broken arm) and Adrian Morley (knee) already sidelined.

But Daryl Powell’s side had been ponderous throughout and never looked comfortable so it was perhaps no surprise when Salford hit back to leave the West Yorkshire club nervous.

On-loan Wigan Warriors centre Oliver Gildart, who impressed throughout, made another great break to send Kevin Locke over in the 66th minute and Castleford were, therefore, left hanging on when ex-Hull KR prop Scott Taylor scored with 90 seconds remaining, Greg Johnson converting.

A sign of Salford’s woe was the sight of Wayne Godwin, the former Castleford hooker back on loan at his old club from part-timers Dewsbury Rams, twice going off injured.

He lost a couple of teeth and suffered a nasty facial gash in the first half and was then led off dazed late on in the second after an Adam Milner tackle which was put on report but looked legal.

It was Castleford full-back Jordan Tansey who endured ample misfortune in the first period, however. Two mistakes from the 28 year-old led to two Salford tries. The first came after only five minutes as he lost the ball coming away from his own line for Theo Fages, the impressive French scrum-half, to pick up and dive over.

Locke missed the conversion but he improved his own score in the 23rd minute after Tansey again had spilled his grubber kick with Salford benefitting after forcing back-to-back drop outs.

A 10-0 deficit was hardly the response Powell was looking for after an embarrassing 46-16 loss at Widnes the previous week.

Earlier, James Clare thought he had got over but Scott Moore’s pass was forward although the visitors did get off the mark in the 25th minute on the back of the game’s first penalty.

A slick handling move saw ex-Salford centre Ashley Gibson go over for his first try in 10 months, following a lovely delayed pass by Milner out on the right.

Gale improved and the Red Devils then needed Johnson to produce a remarkable tackle to deny Castleford captain Michael Shenton over the line.

The visitors did likewise twice at their end, too, before centre Shenton’s impromptu crossfield kick 90 seconds before the break landed perfectly in Gibson’s grasp for him to finish again.

Gale could not convert but did so when Nathan Massey powered through from his offload in the 47th minute for a 16-10 lead.

Gildart evaded Gibson’s tackle to set off on a brilliant 60m run which was only finally ended by Milner, one of Castleford’s better players along with Ben Roberts.

Gibson atoned for his error by breaking himself, Gale handing onto Milner who was dragged down by a retreating Fages.

However, Castleford did extend their lead when 19 year-old Robson chased down Roberts’s fine long kick, pouncing to hack on when Johnson inexplicably dithered over the bouncing ball. Gale added the extras but Castleford – who move above their opponents into sixth – were wrong if they thought Salford were done.

They host Catalans Dragons next Sunday and Powell admitted: “We didn’t play well – we were scratchy – but I think sometimes it’s like that when you lose a game the week before.

“This was seen as a really important match. Everybody will say Salford have a lot of people missing so we should win; I suppose all the pressure was on us.

“I don’t think we played well at any point, but there’s been a few games earlier on this season that I thought we should have won and we didn’t. We’ve just got to relax a bit. Our team’s changed a bit with different injuries and we just need a bit of consistency about us which we haven’t quite got at the moment.”

Salford Red Devils: Evalds; Locke, Caton-Brown, Gildart, Johnson; Fages, G Griffin; Taylor, Godwin, Tasi, Hansen, Forster, Greenwood. Substitutes: Lannon, Hood, Morley, Gee.

Castleford Tigers: Tansey; Clare, Gibson, Shenton, Robson; Roberts, Gale; Lynch, Moore, Wheeldon, Holmes, Millington, Massey. Substitutes: Milner, Jewitt, Moors, Maher.

Referee: G Stokes (Wigan).