Luke Gale scored twice as Castleford Tigers beat Hull FC 20-14

Castleford head coach Daryl Powell

Luke Gale scored twice in a man-of-the-match performance as Castleford made it back-to-back wins for the first time this season with a 20-14 success over Hull FC at the Mend-A-Hose Jungle.

The Tigers lost their first three matches but have found form in recent weeks and recorded their third successive home victory on Friday night.

Defences came out on top in a first half which saw Castleford prop Andy Lynch take the field for his 450th career appearance against his former club.

Gale's converted effort gave the Tigers a deserved lead but Hull responded positively and went into the break with just a two-point deficit after Tom Lineham marked his 50th outing for the club with his fifth try of 2015.

Lynch took centre stage at the start of the second period as his break laid the platform for Gale to cross for his second and stretch Castleford's lead.

But Hull, whose coach Lee Radford missed the trip through illness, refused to lie down and hit the front as Lineham scored twice to complete his hat-trick.

Opposite number Justin Carney gained some revenge when he grounded Lineham with a fierce hand-off on his way to the line for his ninth try of the campaign.

James Clare eased Castleford's nerves after benefiting from Fetuli Talanoa's shocking error and they were celebrating their fourth successive win over Hull at full-time.

The Tigers went close twice in the opening 10 minutes, with Jake Webster hauled down inches short of the tryline by Jordan Rankin and Clare dropping the ball attempting a spectacular finish in the corner.

Castleford continued to do most of the running and finally broke Hull's resistance in the 24th minute as Gale showed a good turn of pace to score to the right of the posts after taking Grant Millington's brilliant offload 40 metres out.

Hull came storming back and, just after former Tigers half-back Marc Sneyd had been denied by a last-ditch tackle by Carney, crossed for their first try of the evening through Lineham. The ball moved through the hands from left to right
before Steve Michaels fed the winger to score in the corner.

Sneyd missed the conversion from the right touchline so Castleford went into half-time 6-4 to the good.

The hosts extended that lead within 60 seconds of the restart after Millington kept his composure to find Gale close to the line following a storming run by fellow prop Lynch.

Castleford were again unable to build momentum as Lineham crossed to cut the home side's advantage to four points. Talanoa was denied by a good tackle by Clare but Lineham made no mistake in the other corner after collecting Danny Houghton's cut-out pass from dummy half.

Sneyd was off target once more from out wide but he had been at the heart of all things good for the Black and Whites and his long pass allowed Lineham to complete his hat-trick.

Sneyd made it third time lucky from the right to give Hull the lead for the first time on the night.

Carney had been found wanting in defence for Castleford but the Australian showed why he is Super League's top try-scorer by flattening Lineham before diving over.

Hull's hopes of mounting another comeback were hit when Sneyd limped off with a leg injury.

Clare touched down after Talanoa made a meal of Gale's kick and the Tigers held on despite a late Hull onslaught.