Danny McGuire left frustrated as Castleford Tigers robbed of big victory over reigning champions

A Liam Farrell try three minutes from time condemned the Tigers to a loss that was hard to take after they came from 12-4 down to lead twice in the second half.

And they particularly felt unhappy after some big decisions went against them, including a big call not to give Cas a penalty when they were getting on top and wrongly uphold a Wigan captain’s challenge.

With the hosts 16-12 ahead the Warriors questioned a knock-on decision given against them by on-field referee Tom Grant.

Replays showed it probably was not a knock-on, but home player Josh Simm had been tackled without the ball as he chased a loose ball. Incredibly video referee Aaron Moore said there was nothing in the interference and the captain’s challenge was controversially upheld.

To compound his error Wigan took full advantage as they marched downfield where Jai Field sent Zach Eckersley over. With Adam Keighran adding the conversion it was 18-16 to the visitors and the boos were ringing round the Mend-A-Hose Jungle.

To their credit Cas pulled themselves together to regain the lead through Will Tate’s second try in his first Super League game of the season. But they allowed Wigan to regain possession from the restart and Liam Moore’s high tackle gave Keighran the chance to level the scored with a penalty.

From the next restart Field produced a bit of magic with a superb break and Farrell was in supprt to break home fans’ hearts.

Tigers head coach felt his side had deserved the two points.

He said: "I thought we were the better team and deserved to win the game.

"We got some really rough calls.

“My players worked tirelessly and did themselves proud.

“I'm obviously really disappointed with the result, but really proud of some of the things that we did. They committed to each other and I thought we looked a threat with the ball and showed resilience at times defensively.

"We probably lost the moments and the last play of the game is probably one of those moments, and that's probably why Jai Field gets paid the big bucks as he was able to drag a really good team out of a bit of a hole.”

After failing to register a point against leaders Hull KR the week before it was a different Cas this time as they showed fire in the opening exchanges and after initially defending their line well they went ahead on 15 minutes.

Daejarn Asi – who was to have perhaps his best game in a Cas shirt – paved the way for the opening score as his excellent cut-out pass gave Tate the chance to go in at the corner after he had been drafted into the side late on with usual winger Innes Senior picking up an injury.

With usual kicker Rowan Milnes absent, Chris Atkin took over half-back and kicking duties and was unable to tag on the extras.

Wigan quickly responded with Field racing over for his 18th Super League try of the season. Keighran was able to convert to give his side a slender lead they were to hold for the next 20 minutes as both sides went set for set without really opening each other up.

Keighran turned try scorer just before half-time after some sloppy defence had let Wigan in and the resulting goal gave the Warriors a 12-4 half-time advantage.

But the Tigers came roaring out at the start of the second half and Asi beat Junior Nsemba with a dummy to open up space to go over for a try that was converted by Atkin.

Wigan were back on the attack, aided by more controversial calls, but their “luck” was to backfire as Harry Smith's pass was intercepted by Tate, who set off downfield. He did not have the pace to stay clear, but with Cas now having good field position they scored again with Sam Wood finishing strongly to score wide out.

Atkin’s fine conversion made it 16-12 and all the momentum was with the Tigers only for the video referee’s big call to change the course of the match again.

Cas could feel rightly aggrieved by the officiating and not for the first time this season. George Hill had a try ruled out by Moore for a marginal decision that was fair, but Wigan could count themselves unlucky not to have had at least one player sin-binned and the six-agains were not always clear nor consistent.

That said they should also be disappointed they did not hold on to the lead in the last five minutes for what would have been a huge morale-boosting win.