Castleford Tigers v St Helens: Green shoots but Craig Lingard not calling for open-top bus parade

The Tigers flirted with relegation in 2023 and made an inauspicious start to this season amid an early injury crisis.

But the clouds are beginning to lift at Wheldon Road after Craig Lingard's side backed up a 40-0 drubbing of London Broncos with a gutsy 28-28 draw at Leigh Leopards.

To highlight the extent of their recent struggles, it is the first time Castleford have gone unbeaten in back-to-back games since July 2022.

The results represent a step in the right direction but Lingard is keen not to overplay a small achievement.

"It's not something to have an open-top bus parade because you haven't lost for two games," said the Tigers boss.

"We've got to make sure the improvements we're making are week on week and more consistent.

"I keep saying it's not going to be an overnight success story. We're going to have good days and we're going to have bad days but we're seeing more of what we're doing in training on game day.

"We're pretty pleased with the development we're showing. It's taken a little bit of time to get there and it's certainly helped with the senior players coming back from injury and the three new players we brought in.

"We've still got a long way to go but we're happy that these green shoots are popping through a little bit."

Castleford host St Helens tonight before welcoming struggling Hull FC to Wheldon Road after the Challenge Cup break for the final game of what Lingard previously described as a significant period for his team.

The Tigers are on track to come through the other side in credit as they aim to pull away from the bottom of Super League.

"We've played the first two games of that block and have got a win and a draw," said Lingard.

"The Leigh game is one of them where you can class it as a point gained or a point lost but if someone would have given us a point at Leigh before this four-week block we would have taken that.

"It gives us that little bit of momentum and confidence going into a big game against Saints this week and then Hull."

Fallen champions St Helens are smarting from a 40-20 defeat at Hull KR, increasing the heat on Paul Wellens from a restless section of supporters.

Given their own troubles, there is little chance of Castleford falling into the trap of thinking Saints are there for the taking.

"It's massively dangerous," said Lingard.

"You tend to find that when any good team has a bad week, they follow it up with a really good one. It's very rare you get a good team having two bad weekends on the bounce.

"We need to guard against that and be even better than last week because we expect Saints to come back a lot stronger than they were last week."

A healthier Castleford squad features Sam Eseh following his return to Wheldon Road on loan from Wigan Warriors.

The former Wakefield Trinity prop will make his Tigers debut at the second attempt after overcoming the minor setback that prevented him from facing London in his first spell.

"He's managed to get through team run and his hamstring is alright so he'll be good to go," said Lingard.

"He brings us a little bit of something different and a bit of size as well. He'll be a straight replacement in the middle for Sam Hall who misses out due to his HIA from last week."

Danny Richardson was named in Lingard's 21-man squad for the clash with Saints but has since left for Hull KR on a season-long loan as the transfer merry-go-round in Super League continues.

The off-contract half-back will leave permanently at the end of the season, giving Castleford room for manoeuvre in the recruitment market.

Lingard is happy to put his faith in academy half-backs Jaiden Linford and Jenson Windley as the Tigers weigh up the best use of the freed-up funds.

"Danny is in the last year of his contract and wanted to go out and play to try to secure his future for next season and beyond," said Lingard.

"He's not been in our team recently. Rowan (Milnes) has got that half-back spot at the minute with the way he's playing.

"An opportunity came up for him to go to KR and it's really important that we start trying to develop our young players.

"It frees up some budget but just because it's there doesn't mean we're going to get a player because the market is what the market is. There's a limited number of players out there and those out there might have four, five or six clubs in for them.

"We've got to make sure anybody who is out there is the right fit for us."