Warrington welcomed Castleford to the Halliwell Jones Stadium knowing they needed something different after being nilled at Leeds in last week’s Round Five game.

Steve Price’s team went back to basics, and it paid off in a low scoring, but tense, arm-wrestle of a game. Defences were on top in the opening session, but the hosts were the team applying the early pressure for the first 10 minutes or more.

Yet it was the Tigers who opened the scoring on 15 minutes when a high tackle on full back Jordan Ranking saw the visitors awarded a kickable penalty which Danny Richardson duly slotted over for a 2-0 lead.

Castleford went close again, with Mike McMeeken held up just a metre out, and looked to be playing themselves into dominance with a number of penalties.

But the Wolves held their defence, and were nearing 90% completion in their attacking sets, as they looked a completely different side to the one who took to the filed at Headingley last week.

And with 25 minutes gone, they took the lead. A sweeping move saw the ball reach winger Tom Lineham, whose spectacular flying dive beat the Cas defence and saw him ground the ball in the corner. Stefan Ratchford’s kick hit the post, but Warrington  were now in front 4-2.

And that was the way it stayed until half time, as both teams probed for the telling advantage.

Just three minutes after the restart, Ratchford stretched the lead to 6-2 with a penalty after Adam Milner stripped the ball from Joe Philben.

The next score came nine minutes later, when Cas captain Michael Shenton put young winger Calum Turner through in the corner. He was tackled as he crossed the line, but the tackle was high and a penalty try was the result.

That levelled the scores at 6-6 and when Richardson took slotted home the kick from in front of the sticks, the Tigers were leading 8-6.

The lead didn't last though, with Ratchford locking the game up with a penalty on 57 minutes.

There the score stayed although Daryl Clark came close to scoring a second try for Warrington. But he was penalised instead for a double movement.

And as the final hooter approached, both teams took to driving up the middle and kicking for a drop goal. Richardson and Jake Trueman both tried and missed for Castleford, while Blake Austin and Gareth Widdop did the same for Warrington.

And then in the 79th minute, Austin set himself up with room and time to aim and kicked the winning one-pointer.

Warrington: Ratchford (2 pens); Lineham (try), King, Brand, Charnley; Austin (drop goal), Widdop; Hill, Walker, Cooper, Currie, Murdoch-Masila, J Clark. Replacements: D Clark, Philbin, Mamo, Akauola.

Castleford: Rankin, Olpherts, Mata'utia, Shenton, Turner; Trueman, Richardson (pen, conversion); Smith, McShane, Griffin, Blair, McMeeken, Massey. Replacements: Millington, Holmes, Milner, Sene-Lefao. (Penalty Try)

Referee: Robert Hicks.

Warrington Wolves (4) 9 Castleford Tigers (2) 8