Castleford 38 Leeds 20: Shenton shines to fell Leeds
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Your support makes all the difference.Castleford claimed their first win of the season with a shock triumph over their local rivals in an entertaining derby clash. Michael Shenton grabbed two decisive tries in four minutes at the start of the second half to push Castleford beyond reach and leave Leeds' unbeaten record in tatters.
Having established a 14-6 lead by half time, Shenton's double put the result beyond doubt despite Scott Donald, the Leeds winger, completing his hat-trick with a second-half brace.
Leeds were without Danny McGuire, Jamie Peacock and Clinton Toopi after last week's brutal battle with Melbourne but the visitors still dominated the opening stages although a committed Castleford defence initially kept them at bay.
When Castleford did threaten they twice found touch with wayward passes and Leeds seemed in no mood to let mistakes go unpunished, Brent Webb feeding Donald from the resulting scrum for a 70-metre try.
The Tigers quickly responded when Joe Westerman collected his own kick and powered through Webb's tackle to narrow their deficit to two points.
Within four more minutes, Castleford had taken an unlikely lead after Brent Sherwin and Ryan McGoldrick combined to work Stuart Donlan clear and they extended their advantage when Luke Dorn raced on to Sherwin's well-placed kick.
Any hopes Leeds had of a comeback were dismissed by Shenton's double just after the break. He raced 60 metres after combining with Donlan and then collected McGoldrick's pass to seal the win. Donald's late double and a consolation try from Jordan Tansey counted for nothing when McGoldrick touched down and Dorn grabbed his second score.
Castleford: McGoldrick; Donlan, Shenton, Dixon, Wainwright; Dorn, Sherwin; Huby, Moore, Korkidas, Guttenbeil, Lupton, Westerman. Substitutes used: Henderson, Leafa, Higgins, Clayton.
Leeds: Webb; Smith, Gibson, Senior, Donald; Tansey, Burrow; Bailey, Diskin, Leuluai, Ellis, Jones-Buchanan, Sinfield. Substitutes used: Lauitiiti, Scruton, Ablett, Burgess.
Referee: P Bentham (Warrington).
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