Wakefield Trinity Wildcats 19 Castleford Tigers 6: Cooke delivers as Tigers slump to rivals Trinity

Tries early in the second half from Dale Morton and Tevita Leo-Latu propelled Wakefield to victory in a drab Engage Super League derby against Castleford last night.

The pair touched down in the space of five minutes to hand the Wildcats control after Sam Obst and Jordan Thompson had traded tries in the first half at Belle Vue.

Handling was difficult on a wet surface but Paul Cooke delivered an influential performance on his first home start for the Wildcats and added three goals and a late drop goal.

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The result condemned Cas to their sixth defeat of the campaign but lifted John Kear's Wakefield back within four points of the top of the league.

Kear said: "I am very happy with that because I think the conditions were tough.

"Our playing surface is first class but after incessant rain for three or four hours before kick-off it was very greasy.

"You have to rein yourselves in and play more conservatively but they played some really good rugby in those conditions.

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"I was delighted with the defensive effort. To concede one try against a side as potent as Castleford in attack, I'm pretty happy."

Thompson almost got Cas off to a perfect start after Ryan McGoldrick broke and looked out wide but the winger was unable to take in his pass.

Wakefield then enjoyed a good spell with Cooke, in his third game since leaving Hull KR, getting plenty of possession and driving the hosts forward.

Wildcats' pressure paid off after 14 minutes as Obst scampered over in the corner from a Glenn Morrison offload and Cooke added the conversion.

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The Tigers came back but another chance was lost as Rangi Chase dropped the ball and Wakefield winger Damien Blanch then did well to deal with a Brent Sherwin kick.

It was from another Sherwin kick that the visitors pulled themselves level.

Morton was unable to catch a high 'bomb' to the corner and Thompson pounced for a try which Joe Westerman converted.

Morton made amends for that error as Wakefield upped the tempo early in the second half.

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Cooke spread play wide and the left winger was on hand to touch down from a fine ball from Daryl Millard.

The Wildcats followed up quickly with another try, Leo-Latu stretching to pluck a Ben Jeffries kick out of the air beforetouching down.

Cooke added his second goal and then applied further pressure with a kick that took a wicked bounce and almost caught out Thompson.

Jeffries burst through a gap to send Morrison clear but McGoldrick denied him with a fine tackle.

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A scuffle broke out after McGoldrick caught Jeffries with a high tackle but Wakefield were eventually happy to accept a penalty and Cooke added two more points.

Cooke then put the game further out of reach with a one-pointer seven minutes from time and the hosts duly ran down the clock.

Kear added: "The opposition had opportunities to win it but we seized it with a pretty comprehensive second half.

"Paul Cooke is getting better game by game and Ben Jeffries took some of the pressure off him. They look to be really nice together as a half-back partnership and I was also pleased with Sam Obst's contribution."

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Defeat was Castleford's sixth of the season and coach Terry Matterson admitted his team were outplayed.

Matterson said: "We just didn't have enough of ball.

"We got off to a bad start in both halves and we didn't recover in the second half.

"We defended well considering how much ball we had but we just didn't have enough of it to give ourselves a chance."

Wakefield: Blaymire, Blanch, Murphy, Millard, Morton, Cooke, Jeffries, Korkidas, Obst, Moore, Henderson, Demetriou, Morrison. Substitutes: King, Leo-Latu, Tronc, Kirmond.

Castleford: McGoldrick, Thompson, Shenton, Dixon, Ainscough, Chase, Sherwin, Jackson, Jones, Huby, Tuson, Snitch, Westerman. Substitutes: Hudson, Higgins, Clayton, Cooper.

Referee: J Child (Dewsbury)