‘Rugby league’s a crazy game’: Daryl Powell sums up Wakefield Trinity’s comeback win over rivals Castleford Tigers perfectly as Danny McGuire praises ‘passion, commitment and skill’

Mason Lino’s scruffy drop-goal with just four minutes remaining completed a stunning turnaround for Trin, who were trailing 12-0 at the break.

But the celebrations for a first competitive victory at Belle Vue against their neighbours could not begin until Daejarn Asi’s own sweetly-struck drop goal from just inside the Wakey half, on the hooter, floated inches wide.

“It was a couple of coats of paint away from going over,” observed Daryl Powell after the dramatic 13-12 triumph.

Cas could have been out of sight in the first half had Rowan Milnes converted two tries from Jason Qareqare, on his first start of 2025, and one from Sam Wood.

And a reenergised Trin levelled the scoring thanks to converted tries from Harvey Smith and the returning Max Jowitt, with Lino’s decisive kick proving the distance.

“Rugby league’s a crazy game,” Powell said. “In the first half we started with such a loose attitude to finishing our sets and I thought Castleford had a great intent about them, they used the pace pretty well and they got points on us early.

"I thought we just handed them energy and they took it pretty well. They got a couple of tries from kicks, which we didn't defend really well, and luckily their goal-kicking was a little bit off.

“12-0 gave us an opportunity to come back into the game but it still took us quite a long time. I thought we were getting there and energy was slipping away from Castleford.

“We got a try which was pretty important. We scored straight away (following the disallowed try from Lino) and it’s game on. Even at the end, he nails it so sweet. Luckily for us, it fell out in our favour and I'm really pleased to win but we've got a lot to fix up and toughen up a little bit mentally and make sure we play a little bit better in the first half.

He added: “We're four (wins) from eight and if you looked at the fixture list you’d have said that’d be a pretty tough thing to get.

“The boys are doing a good job but we’re going to need to keep improving.”

Tigers head coach McGuire said after the game:

“I'm obviously disappointed we didn’t get the result but really proud of the performance, especially the first half – we were really clinical and disciplined.

“We had good attitude, everything we have been speaking about and trying to work on we put into practice, working hard for each other.

“Second half they had momentum and territory, we battled and stuck in there and it was ugly at times. We didn’t get the result and I hate losing, and this game is all about winning, but I’m alright with it because of the things we did and the passion, commitment and skill we showed.

“We'll learn lessons and be better for it.”

He added: “There was a collective will to play tough, it was good. We’ve had some moments this year where we've looked a really good team with the ball and defensively – we just need to do it consistently, we need to do it again next week and the week after.

“I am really proud of them. There are some upset people in there and it will take a few days to get over it. But there are lots we can be happy with and lots we can learn from.

“I thought we were the better team for the majority of the game. You have got to give Wakey credit. Daryl has got them playing well.”

Here are some photos of last night’s Calder derby, taken by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com