WARRINGTON Wolves trail by 12 points to hosts Castleford Tigers at the Mend-A-Hose Jungle in the Super League.

James Clare touched down before Michael Monaghan charged down a kick to break free and level, but Michael Shenton added two tries within five minutes of the break.

Wolves looked keen to get the ball in the hands of Kevin Penny as early as possible with even lightening quick full back Matty Russell handing possession to the incoming winger.

Tony Smith’s side nearly profited from this tactic four minutes in when Michael Monaghan picked up at dummy half and floated a miss pass to the former Wolves academy man, who was only stopped in the corner by a superb covering tackle from Tigers’ Andy Lynch.

The hosts threatened after a miss pass of their own three minutes later, this time unintentionally as Jamie Ellis and Scott Wheeldon moved the ball through hands and for the final pass to hit the deck and trickle into Jordan Tansey’s grasp.

Wolves boasted a back line packed with pace and a clever Trent Waterhouse offload sent Ryan Atkins on a jinking run, only for Monaghan to knock on and return possession to Castelford.

Tigers’ build up however was slower and again they moved the ball through hands before taking the tackle.

They were able to utilise the space out wide in the 13th minute and an overhead pass from  Shenton allowed Clare to dive over from close range in the corner.

The left-footed Marc Sneyd converted from a tight angle.

The score knocked the momentum out of the Wolves, who were the undoing of their own attacks with Atkins and Ben Harrison pulled up for crossing and passes dropped aplenty.

But inside 22 minutes they pulled level, skipper Monaghan charged down Sneyd’s kick and it bounced favourably for him to sprint 30 metres and score his second try of the campaign.

Stefan Racthford, restored to goaling duties with Chris Bridge absent through injury, converted.

Castleford enjoyed a period of sustained pressure on the half hour, but after Nathan Massey collected Daryl Clark’s pass he spilled the ball in a tackle close to the posts and relieved the pressure on the visitors.

Replacement Clark was involved again moments later when he broke through two tackles before feeding Ellis as Wolves scampered back to recover.

But the home side were able to keep the move alive and as Sneyd drew close to the line on the last tackle he delivered a clever grubber kick that Shenton dived for to touch down. Sneyd added the extras.

Then on the 40-minute marker the Tigers were able to break free again and a superb run from Frankie Mariano saw him offload to Shenton, who had the power to take Scotland international Russell over the line with him. Sneyd again converted from a tight angle.