Despite narrow defeats in their last two matches Castleford Tigers boss Ryan Carr believes there are grounds for optimism that the rebuild is beginning to take effect.

After some real ups and downs in the first half of the season there has been more consistency in the last four games, three of which were against sides above them in the table.

Now they have to prove this improvement with their next two games looking more winnable and fans expecting points to be collected.

The Tigers face back to back home games against Toulouse and York Knights and will hope to go into their Magic Weekend fixture with local rivals Wakefield Trinity at the start of next month in good spirits.

Castleford Tigers players during a break in play in the extreme heat of France. Picture by Catalans Dragons/via SWpix.com

placeholder image — Castleford Tigers players during a break in play in the extreme heat of France. Picture by Catalans Dragons/via SWpix.com

Head coach Carr knows further improvement is still needed, but he can see clear progress.

He said: "The last month has probably been our best month of the season so far. We've been the team we want to be and that we've been working towards.

"We've got a really good vibe amongst the group. They're really hungry to play well.

"Our last four games we’ve been building, building, building. Are we happy with the scoreboard? No, but I’m happy with our connection, our belief, our buy-in.

"I feel like they are really committed to this team and to this club, which is all our fans want to see and what our fans deserve to see.

"If we continue to stay at it like we are then you can see there’s a team there that really enjoy playing together and love wearing the badge.

"It’s important to me that when they pull on this jersey they actually try really, really hard for that jersey because the club has been around for 100 years now and a lot of great players have played at this club."

Carr added: “It’s our duty now to make sure we do this club proud and our fans who are awesome.

"We’ve got great support, we’re very thankful for that and we’re just trying to repay that loyal support with wholehearted performances, which I feel we did again (at Catalans).

"The possession was 60-40 for the majority of the game and when it swung back we started to build points. I feel like if we had 50-50 it would have been a different game.”

Carr was pleased with the way try scoring Jack Brown went on his debut at prop and was hopeful there were no new injuries from the game.