A STUNNING Wolves fightback has kept their League Leaders’ Shield hopes alive.

Tony Smith’s men trailed 24-6 at one stage in the first half but a quickfire treble inspired by hookers Brad Dwyer and Micky Higham turned the tide.

Although Cas levelled the match again at 30-30, Higham’s second try and another from points machine Joel Monaghan kept Wolves in touch with Wigan Warriors and Huddersfield Giants at the top of Super League.

The victory may have been soured by an injury to returning scrum half Richie Myler, though.

He was carried off in the late stages with what appeared to be a problem with the right knee that had been the reason behind him missing the previous five outings.

Four tries conceded in a devastating 12-minute spell put Cas in charge in the opening 40.

And it was the fact that Wolves managed to pull six points back in the final throes of the half that raised hopes of the fightback.

Early on, Wolves went ahead.

A Richie Myler grubber forcing a drop-out produced the pressure that brought Wolves their first try, with Lee Briers dummying and scrambling over on his knees on the next set. Stefan Ratchford’s extras made it 6-0 after 13 minutes.

Cas responded after Micky Higham was penalised for holding down, with a Weller Hauraki break being finished off a few hands later by Justin Carney. Kirk Dixon levelled matters with the conversion after 20 minutes.

The home side then hit the front, with Hauraki to the fore again.

It was his thumping tackle on Simon Grix that regained Cass possession and when Ratchford was deemed to have knocked on in a three-man tackle the second rower scooped up the loose ball and surged past an unawares Wolves defence. Dixon’s conversion made it 12-6 after 25 minutes.

Castleford sniffed Wolves were a little jaded from their semi-final clash with Hull last week and went for it, with their third try coming four minutes later.

This time Ryan Boyle stood up in the tackle and his offload left Ratchford facing two attackers and he could do nothing as Jordan Tansey fired Milner over the whitewash, with Dixon improving the try for 18-6.

And on the next set, on the back of a strong burst from Daryl Clark, the ball was swept to the right flank where Rangi Chase squeezed out a miracle round-the-man ball to give Dixon a walkover. The winger added his fourth conversion to move Cas 24-6 ahead after 32 minutes.

Joel Monaghan may well have helped to give Wolves the lifeline they needed when he intercepted from another threatening Cas attack and earned a penalty after being held down.

Drives from Brad Dwyer, Ben Westwood and Chris Bridge took Wolves to the other end where a dancing Richie Myler worked an opening for Garreth Carvell to score with a stretch. Ratchford’s conversion cut the arrears to 24-12.

Wolves needed the first try of the second half and they got three in five minutes, started through good work from dummy half by Dwyer.

His break and offload to Myler set up position for Dwyer to wrestle his way over from dummy half and Ratchford’s extras meant Wolves trailed by six points after 48 minutes.

And then Dwyer fired away from a run-around with Westwood to earn a penalty, for off-side, from which Myler charged home from a short Briers pass. Ratchford’s conversion left it all square after 51 minutes.

Dwyer was replaced but the re-introduced Higham surged over from a dummy-half dart after a penalty for offside and Ratchford booted Wolves 30-24 ahead with 53 minutes gone.

But it was not the end of Cas, who came fighting back – literally!

After fisticuffs between Chris Bridge and Carney handed the home team a controversial penalty, the pressure was on Wolves.

A deflected Clark kick fell kindly for Craig Huby to pounce and Dixon’s extras levelled matters again with 15 minutes to play.

When Cas lost possession deep inside their own territory it invited Wolves back in and offloads from Paul Wood and Myler paved the way for Higham to bag his second try in the 69th minute. Ratchford’s conversion made it 36-30 to Wolves.

Dixon kicked out on the full from the re-start and the killer blow was struck three minutes later, Wood again involved in the approach work before the ball was fizzed out to the right for Westwood to put Joel Monaghan over in the corner. Ratchford missed his first conversion of the afternoon but at 40-30 Wolves could finally see some daylight.

Wolves: Stefan Ratchford; Joel Monaghan, Chris Bridge, Simon Grix, Chris Riley; Lee Briers, Richie Myler; Paul Wood, Micky Higham, Chris Hill, Ben Westwood, Trent Waterhouse, Ben Harrison. Subs: Adrian Morley, Garreth Carvell, Brad Dwyer, James Laithwaite.

Tigers: Jordan Tansey; Kirk Dixon, Michael Shenton, Michael Channing, Justin Carney; Rangi Chase, Jamie Ellis; Ryan Boyle, Adam Milner, Craig Huby, Grant Millington, Weller Hauraki, Nathan Massey. Subs: Daryl Clarke, Dan Fleming, Charlie Martin, Keith Mason.

Referee: Robert Hicks