Lam disappointed with Leigh's display but happy with the win

The Leopards were twice pegged back by a determined Tigers side after opening up 12-point leads at the Progress With Unity Stadium, but ultimately did enough to record their ninth victory from 11 outings.

Castleford were much improved from the team thrashed 48-6 by Wakefield last week and were aggrieved when Jason Qareqare had a try disallowed – for a second time in the afternoon – late on.

David Armstrong impressed for Leigh, creating the first try for the equally influential Lachlan Lam and scoring two himself. Umyla Hanley also got on the scoresheet and Adam Cook converted all four tries.

Cas thought they had taken an early lead when Qareqare crashed over in the corner but replays showed him grounding his arm in touch as he dived over.

Leigh made the most of the reprieve to open the scoring a minute later.

Armstrong burst through a gap and dabbed a clever kick inside for Lam to gather and score under the posts.

Castleford supporters may have feared another heavy defeat after their Magic Weekend mauling by Wakefield when Armstrong increased the advantage on 16 minutes.

The pacey full-back broke away from a Jack Hughes pass to score in impressive fashion.

But the Tigers responded well to level the scores before the interval, starting as Sam Hall won a race to touch down from a Daejarn Asi kick.

Fijian winger Mikaele Ravalawa added another when he forced his way over out wide after a good run from Phoenix Laulu-Togaga’e and quick hands from Louis Senior created an opening.

The Leopards restored their superiority after the restart as Lam got away a grubber kick under pressure and Hanley pounced as the ball bobbled into the in-goal area.

Lam was the architect of another try soon another, unlocking the defence with a dummy and releasing Hughes, who in turn sent Armstrong clear for his second.

Castleford refused to give up and fought on, even after Senior was sinbinned for catching the head of Armstrong in a tackle.

Qareqare was left cursing his luck when he had a second try controversially ruled out by the video referee, this time for an obstruction.

Laulu-Togaga’e still set up a grandstand finish when he found a hole in the Leigh defence to score on the right five minutes from time but the hosts held off late pressure to claim a valuable two points.

Leigh coach Adrian Lam admitted the result was all that mattered and was pleased how his players adapted after losing Frankie Halton to injury and Bailey Hodgson to illness on the day of the game.

Lam told Sky Sports: “It upsets the rhythm of the team but I was disappointed with the way we played.

“I just thought we just dipped our toe in and didn’t really get amongst everything that we worked really hard for, and hence, we kept them in the game.

“I thought they did some good stuff, Castleford, and if you allow them to do that they can hurt you.

“At the end of the day we got the two points, so we’ll take that. It’s nice that we’ve got the result and keep progressing up the ladder.”

Despite a lengthy injury list, Lam feels the team should be confident of breaking into the top six.

He said: “We need to be confident. We’ve done it tough for the majority of the season, and again today.

“I think there’s a lot of home games for us, so it is in our hands, but we’ve got a lot of work to do after today.”