ANOTHER lacklustre performance, another defeat and a thoroughly miserable Easter weekend for Wolves.

Cas cut their hosts open with far too much ease to seal a 28-6 win and add to Warrington’s woes.

Despite a tight first half, which Tigers edged 6-0, Wolves collapsed after the break, conceding four tries as confidence visibly drained from the players.

Kevin Penny was solid on his return to the side, restored to the starting line-up for the first time since the opening day defeat at St Helens.

But despite standing up to any challenge presented to him, the winger saw far too little ball and did not have the chance to utilise the blistering pace that makes him such a potent attacking weapon.

More important than the man returning was the one still absent.

Lee Briers missed his second consecutive game and Wolves missed his craft and invention, especially in their kicking game.

It was not that the hosts kicked badly, just somewhat predictably and, as they suffered at the feet of Cas scrum half Brent Sherwin, the difference between the two sides became obvious.

Looking to bounce back after their bad Friday against fierce rivals Wakefield, Castleford started with plenty of purpose.

They were the ones who showed more attacking initiative early on, moving the ball wide at every opportunity, somewhat predictably targeting the defensive pairing of Penny and Matt King on Wolves’ left.

But the pair found answers to any question asked of them, particularly impressive in dealing with one high bomb from Brent Sherwin under heavy pressure from Kirk Dixon and James Evans.

Preferring to use their big battering rams, Warrington played it mainly down the middle and were sometimes a little sluggish in finding the flanks.

Driven forward by the pack, they still had their chances though – and good ones at that.

After Ben Westwood intercepted a kick from Sherwin, Wolves sensed a chance to catch their opponents cold but Dixon did well to claim a testing high kick from Chris Bridge.

Then, after Ben Harrison had made a powerful break, Adrian Morley knocked on Paul Rauhihi’s short pass as the try line beckoned.

The deadlock was only broken seven minutes before the break and it was the visitors who took their chance.

From the scrum following a Paul Wood knock-on, Cas shifted the ball out left and Michael Wainwright made a clean break before sending an inside pass to Brett Ferres.

Simon Grix could do nothing to stop the second row and Dixon converted to open a six-point gap.

Another chance went begging for the hosts when King drove over the line, only to be held up by Chase and Evans, and it only got worse in the second half.

Sharper in the third quarter, Cas breached the home defence again 12 minutes after the break.

A looping pass from Ryan Hudson found Wainwright in space on the left and he cut inside Paul Johnson, Grix and Bridge to touch down. Dixon added the extras.

More Cas craft broke Wolves’ goal line resistance six minutes later, as Sherwin planted a delicate kick behind the defence and Rangi Chase pounced while Michael Monaghan flapped. Dixon goaled again.

Wolves mustered something in the way of a response when Bridge took a flat pass from Jon Clarke and stepped througn two tacklers to score, Hicks converting.

But that score soon became meaningless as Cas scored two tries in the space of four minutes to send the home fans streaming towards the exits.

First, Michael Shenton squeezed his way over the line despite Clarke and Johnson’s efforts to hold him up and then Chase evaded a tackle from Rauhihi to dart over the line. Dixon converted the latter.

Wolves: Chris Hicks(1g); Paul Johnson, Simon Grix, Matt King, Kevin Penny; Chris Bridge (1t), Michael Monaghan; Adrian Morley, Mickey Higham, Garreth Carvell, Louis Anderson, Ben Westwood, Ben Harrison. Subs: Paul Wood, Paul Rauhihi, Jon Clarke, Matty Blythe.

Tigers: Richard Owen; Kirk Dixon (4g), James Evans, Michael Shenton (1t), Michael Wainwright (1t); Rangi Chase (2t), Brent Sherwin; Mitchell Sargent, Ryan Hudson, Liam Higgins, Brett Ferres (1t), Sione Faumuina, Joe Westerman. Subs: Craig Huby, Chris Feather, Kirk Netherton, James Ford.