'Completely unacceptable': Craig Lingard blasts Castleford Tigers after abject defeat

The Tigers were only 8-4 behind at the interval and had a man advantage following Tommy Makinson's early red card.

However, Lingard's side collapsed in the second half as Saints ran in 52 unanswered points, aided by Liam Horne's dismissal for a tip tackle.

Castleford went into the game in good spirits on the back of improved performances against London Broncos and Leigh Leopards but were handed a sobering reality check by the fallen Super League champions.

Although he lost Alex Mellor and Tex Hoy to head injury assessments in the opening 40 minutes, Lingard did not make any excuses for a calamitous display after the break.

"That's as poor a second half as you could possibly get," said Lingard, whose side have a week off before hosting fellow strugglers Hull FC.

"It was almost like they accepted they would get beaten and they stopped.

"We showed an immense amount of naivety when Saints went down to 12 and we didn’t manage the game at all. We just kept fuelling them with mistake after mistake.

"It’s a massive step back from where we’ve been the last two or three weeks. We knew all along it’s not going to be smooth but there’s no excuse for that.

"To dish that up at home is a massive leap back. We’ve got to apologise to the fans and I’ll take the flak for it.

"To concede 52 points in the second half is completely unacceptable."