Skipton 41 Castleford 18

Skipton recovered from an horrendous first 15 minutes to defeat a Castleford side rooted to the bottom of the Yorkshiure Two table.

The Reds soon found themselves 13-0 down as they struggled to get their game together playing into the wind.

Two needless penalties and a 70 metre interception try under the posts for an easy conversion gave Castleford hope.

Slowly but surely, the home side settled down, put some phases together and after 25 minutes a penalty, from skipper, Darren Howson, got them back on track.

Up to this point the crowd had been quiet. A huge hit from full back Andy Maclean, roused them from their stupor.

Maclean cleaned out a ruck, big-style, by bouncing a Cas forward five metres backwards. This got the biggest roar of the day and galvanised his team-mates into action.

On the stroke of half-time a well-worked passage of play resulted in centre Jonny Moore scoring in the corner.

Skipton hit a purple patch at the start of the second half. They gained field position on the opposition 22 and a long miss-pass put James Ackers into space. He motored over in the corner.

A plea from the crowd to winger Lee Shaw was answered when he appeared at outside centre to execute a change of pace that left the Castleford defence standing as he finished with aplomb.

Next David Wellock took a quick tap penalty before, Jonny Moore made more ground.

Moore had the awareness to pass to supporting centre, Joe Porter who raced through to score under the posts.

All four three quarters had touched down in a space of 20 minutes. Not often do you see that. It also shows what these boys can do, given a bit of space and dry conditions to work in.

The forwards, got in on the act when Josh Beck made the hard yards and off-loaded for Shaw to touch down for his second try.

The sixth and final try for Skipton, again involved Shaw. He picked up an up-and-under and off-loaded to James Ackers who scored his second try.

Darren Howson kept converting – a score-line of over 40 points and a bonus point for four tries was so sweet.

Credit to Castleford, who suffered injuries, they kept going and got a deserved second try at the end.

Special mention to the Skipton front row, Chris Lambert, Malc Dutton and Chris Wright, who pilfered the bulk of the Cas scrum ball. This kept Skipton in possession and on the front foot.