Castleford Tigers produced arguably the story of the Super League season so far on Friday night, when they recorded an impressive victory against St Helens.
As any Tigers fan will tell you, Castleford have endured their fair amount of hardship in that particular part of the Pennines – with them having to wait until 2021 for their first-ever league victory at the Totally Wicked Stadium.
And including pre-Super League results, their 8-6 win on Friday evening was only the second time in 33 years that they have prevailed at a ground which has provided its fair share of frustration down the years.
But a closer look through Castleford’s record there underlines what a bizarre run of results the Tigers have had to endure. There have been comprehensive defeats and one or two wins smattered in and amongst their 16 league fixtures at the Totally Wicked Stadium..Incredibly, on almost a third of the occasions the Tigers have travelled across to St Helens and played at the Totally Wicked Stadium, they’ve come away without scoring a single point.
The first time was all the way back in 2014, when they were beaten 41-0. But the other four have come in their last seven visits to St Helens!
Amazingly, they were beaten without scoring a point by the Saints on three successive occasions: in 2018 (26-0), 2019 (4-0) and 2020 (10-0)
They fell behind early on Friday evening and given recent history, it was easy to ponder whether another unwelcome addition to this record – but Craig Lingard’s side delivered a victory for the ages instead.
Castleford supporters have had to endure real hardship at St Helens in the Super League era – and even before, too. As mentioned earlier, this is only the second time since 1991 that they have gone to the Saints in a league fixture and actually won.
The scenes in August 2021 will live long in the memory for Tigers fans, when they finally secured a win at the Saints courtesy of a late Greg Eden try sealing victory. Daryl Powell’s going crazy in the stands with the subs almost sprinting down the touchline alongside Eden, remains an iconic Super League moment.
And Lingard’s men followed suit on Friday evening with a dramatic and fully-deserved victory. It’s also only the second time Castleford have gone to the Totally Wicked and kept St Helens in single figures in terms of points scored: with the other that 4-0 defeat in 2019.