BY JOHN DAVIDSON

Castleford coach Craig Lingard insists his players are working “really hard” but have to add some smartness to their game after they fell to Warrington last night.

The Tigers went down 30-8 to the Wolves, their third loss of 2024 in a row after defeats to Wigan and Salford.

“The effort is there, we can’t knock it all,” Lingard said. 

“They’re working really hard, we just have to manage the smartness too. We have to cut out some of these silly errors that are in our control. 

“We need to more composed in key areas of the game…. We said at the start of the season this isn’t going to be an overnight success. 

“I felt today was the first time where we’ve had a little bit of a disappointment, and it’s now really important to see how we handle it. 

“Hopefully reward our loyal fans to get a win agains Huddersfield this Friday.”

Castleford started strongly against Warrington and went 4-0 ahead early, but the home side responded with 26 points.

The visitors picked up a late consolation try to Innes Senior.

“I’m disappointed,” Lingard admitted. 

“I thought we started the game really well, we had a clear focus on starting well after last week against Salford. 

“And then again similar to last week, we compounded our own destiny by kicking the ball dead. Then they get down field and they score. 

“We end up conceding 18 points in a short space of time. We just didn’t managed that 10 minute period too well. 

“Our right edge was just too passive. We made it too easy for Warrington to come forward and pick the option of what they wanted to do. 

“We didn’t make any decision whatsoever, which is really disappointing.”