Castleford Tigers boss Craig Lingard happy with effort of his players but looking to tighten defence

​Lingard was left waiting for his first win as Castleford boss following the narrow 26-22 defeat at Salford Red Devils, but was pleased with the spirit shown by his players after they almost overcame an early 12-0 deficit and a 24-10 lead for their opponents early in the second half.

"That's probably the best ground we've played on in terms of firmness," he said.

"With the players we've got and the way we want to play, the harder the ground is, the better we'll get.

"One of the goals we set ourselves at the start of the season was that if you concede less than 16 points, you're in a real good position to win a game. We back ourselves to score 18 points in a game.

"That's a target we need to hit more often than not because if we concede less than 16 points in every game we play, we'll win more than we lose.

"We're pretty happy with what we've got in terms of ball in hand but it's about putting all the parts of the game together."

Lingard took positives from his side scoring four tries after they had come up empty handed in the opener against Wigan, but admitted they will have to start games better.

He added: "We started poorly. We had one set ball in hand and then did seven, eight, nine sets defensively.

"We defended pretty well for the majority but if you give a team that much possession eventually the dam will break and that’s what happened.

"I’m really disappointed we started the game as we did, but I’m pleased with the way we came back and scored two tries to get back in the first half. But then again, disappointed that we conceded just before half-time.

"There’s loads of lessons we need to learn but I’m pleased with the effort, the application and the desire – all the stuff we can control."

Lingard confirmed that half-back Danny Richardson sustained a concussion at Salford that will rule him out of this Friday’s trip to Warrington Wolves.

The Tigers are already without prop Liam Watts after he was banned for four matches while Paul McShane, Alex Mellor, George Griffin, Josh Hodson and Sylvester Namo are out or big injury doubts.