The Castleford Tigers are still looking for their first points of 2022, and their first points under the stewardship of Lee Radford, as they came up against his old charges in the form of a Hull FC side now coached by Brett Hodgson and who are sitting in seventh place in the table.

A twenty-point loss would drop the Tigers to the bottom of the table, and a win by more than thirty points could see FC into third spot after four rounds of the competition.

Our pre-match Twitter poll suggested that 88% expected an FC victory but the bookies weren´t so sure and only gave the Tigers a two-point start on the handicap coupon.

The first action of the game saw a try as Ligi Sau dropped a pass from Jake Connor who caught the kick off and spilled the ball into the hands of Daniel Smith to go over within ten seconds for the opening try. Gareth O´Brien added the extras for a sensational start for the home side.

A Connor mistake gifted possession to the Tigers twenty out from his own line and when Paul McShane was hit with a Danny Houghton swinging arm, the Airlie Birds hooker was sin-binned. O´Brien kicked the resulting penalty on nine minutes for an 8-0 lead.

FC managed to ride out the rest of the period with twelve men without their line being further broken but it was clear that this was going to be a hard afternoon at the office for the visitors.

FC scored their opener on the half hour when a nice one-two between Andre Savelio and Houghton saw the hooker find the line and ground to get the Black & Whites right back into the game. Ben McNamara added the conversion to reduce the arrears to a single goal.

Despite the efforts of Connor, getting his body under the ball, he couldn´t stop Greg Eden from forcing the ball to ground in the corner for 12-6. O´Brien couldn´t add the conversion.

Two minutes later Chase Blair took a Trueman pass to go in and take full advantage of Connor putting the kick-off out on the full. This time O´Brien added the two pointer for an 18-6 lead, the Tigers starting to make a mockery of their league position.

But seconds later the Tigers were unable to take the kick-off and themselves spilled the ball for McNamara to put Griffin over for the second FC try, a carbon copy of the Tigers opener. McNamara added the conversion, and the deficit was back to one converted try as the half time hooter sounded.

The Hull FC left defence opened up on forty-four with McNamara missing his tackle for O´Brien to throw a dummy and go in. O´Brien was unable to add the extras, hitting the upright, in increasingly windy conditions.

The Tigers were in again on when Eden leapt over the attempted tackle to ground in the corner off an O´Brien pass but the full back was again unable to add the conversion to leave the door slightly ajar for FC.

A flying Adam Swift grabbed one back for Hull FC as he leapt for the line to ground off a Griffin pass but sustained a knock in the act of scoring. McNamara added a difficult conversion for 18-26.

On sixgty-three Connor Wynne chased and collected a Connor kick through to go in for the fourth FC try of the afternoon and reduce the arrears to four points. McNamara was unable to add the conversion but with fifteen minutes left ion the clock it was game on.

A sensational hat-trick score from Greg Eden, turning, dummying, and twisting his way for fifty metres through a broken FC defence to score in the corner. O´Brien added the goal and the home side were 32-22 ahead with twelve remaining.

Jamie Shaul went on in at the corner on seventy-four to again grab his side a lifeline. McNamara couldn´t add the conversion from the right touchline, the lead down to just a single converted try.

O´Brien grabbed a priceless drop goal to grab a comfort buffer for the home side and seal the home win for the Tigers by 33-26.

Castleford Tigers have finally got their season off and running with Lee Radford´s side taking the scalp of his most recent employers as they condemned Hull FC to their second defeat of the season. There will be a massive collective sigh of relief that they came upon a Hull FC side who chose today to be clumsy and error strewn, and they made the most of it to punish a lacklustre performance.

Castleford Tigers: O´Brien (T, 3G), Eden (3T), Turner, Fonua, Olpherts, Trueman, McShane, Smith (T), Lawler, Matagi, Sutcliffe, Blair (T), Westerman. Subs: Hepi, Hall, Martin, Robb.

Hull FC:  Connor, Swift (T), Griffin (T), Wynne (T), Shaul (T), Reynolds, McNamara (3G), Sao, Houghton (T), Satae, Savelio, Lane, Fash. Subs: Brown, Evans, Lovodua, Johnstone.

Half-Time: 18-12.

Full-Time: 33-26.

Score Progression:  4-0, 6-0, (SB), 8-0, 8-4, 8-6, 12-6, 16-6, 18-6, 18-10, 18-12 : HT : 22-12, 26-12, 26-16, 26-18, 26-22, 30-22, 32-22, 32-26, 33-26 : FT .

Referee: Rob Hicks.