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Although the Tigers failed to score a try and went down 32-4 to reigning champions Wigan Warriors the head coach was pleased with aspects of the performance from his players in a closely fought first half-hour then after they went down to 12 men following Liam Watts’ controversial sending off.

“I’m proud of their efforts,” said Lingard. “There was a lot of adversity they went through in the game and they could quite easily have got rolled over and got a lot of points put on them.

"But they worked for the full 80 minutes. We spoke about being difficult to beat and being difficult to play against and I thought we we played for the full 80.

Castleford Tigers head coach Craig Lingard is interviewed on the BBC after his side's loss to Wigan in the first live Super League game on the channel.

"I thought they showed the passion that the fans are expecting and wanting from people playing for Castleford.

"There were loads of lessons we can learn. We wanted to get that togetherness we’d had in pre-season out of it; from that showing we have. We saw a lot of heart.

"The Castleford public just wants a team that’s going to play for the badge and put loads of effort in – we saw that in abundance.

"I thought we showed a lot of grit and determination.

"We knew it was going to be a tough game first up against the champions of last season but saw a lot of positives out there.

"We spoke this week about showing that togetherness and desire to play for each other and the club. I thought we saw that in abundance.

Castleford Tigers boss Craig Lingard unhappy with red card decision against Wiga...

Lingard was delighted with the support shown by Cas fans in a 10,170 crowd.

He added: “I thought they were outstanding, the way they backed the lads all the way through the 80 minutes and they certainly lifted them up when they were feeling a little bit down.

"We need to make sure that maintains all the way through the season. Hopefully they saw that the effort, the desire, the commitment was there against a real quality Wigan side.

"Hopefully that can be a good yardstick for us as we progress through the season.”

Cas now face their first away game of the new season when they travel to play Salford Reds this Sunday.

Castleford Tigers head coach Craig Lingard encouraged by opening display