'It was a tough game', says Castleford's Daryl Powell

Bevan French tries to stop Derrell Olpherts from scoring. Picture: SWPix

Castleford head coach Daryl Powell took defeat on the chin after seeing his side go down 22-12 at Wigan.

The Tigers were in the contest right until the final few minutes when Sam Powell went over, adding to the earlier tries from Bevan French - who scored a double - and Zak Hardaker.

It was Cas' first loss of the year but Powell was pleased with his side's effort, and felt with a little more composure they could have won the game.

He said: "It was a tough game. The real turning point was when Zak Hardaker made a break and we just got tired. We weren't at our best. It was a real tough game and we were in it for large parts of the game.

"We want to improve dramatically in defence. We only had 18 fit players to choose from and they did really well and they all worked hard. We are disappointed to lose, but we weren't far away. We just couldn't find enough points."