Castleford staged a magnificent fightback in a memorable Super League clash to deny St Helens second place in the table.

The beaten Cup finalists looked set for a convincing victory after racing into an 18-0 lead after only 17 minutes of Tuesday night's rearranged match.

But the Tigers staged a remarkable rally to expose Saints' vulnerability out wide to claim their first home win of Super League VII at the fifth attempt.

Saints, lacking four regulars, were well beaten in the end but there was little sign of the drama to come as they established an early stranglehold on the game.

They turned on the style to blitz their Yorkshire opponents in an opening quarter which belonged almost exclusively to Tommy Martyn, who bossed the show just 11 days after his largely anonymous appearance at Murrayfield.

The makeshift scrum-half, a splendid deputy for the injured Sean Long, split the Tigers defence after only four minutes with a superb sidestep to send Martin Gleeson over for the first of his two tries.

Martyn kept the pressure on the home side with two magnificent 40-20 kicks and came up with a vital interception during Castleford's comeback.

Loose forward Peter Shiels and stand-off Paul Sculthorpe added other tries and Sculthorpe kicked all three conversions as Saints built up a comfortable lead.

Castleford coach Graham Steadman had reacted to his side's heavy defeat by Bradford by relegating high-profile Australians Mitch Healey and Wayne Bartrim to the bench but both were called into action inside 20 minutes - and both played prominent roles in the transformation.

Healey intercepted a Sculthorpe pass on halfway to set up a try for centre Barrie-Jon Mather and provided more width to Castleford's game which helped produce two touchdowns for left winger Darren Rogers, taking his tally for the season to nine.

Bartrim kicked two of the conversions and, despite a reshuffle caused by injury to Richard Gay, they sensationally took the lead on 44 minutes thanks to some enterprising play and breathtaking handling on the last tackle.

The ever-dangerous Smith was brought down just short of the line in the left-hand corner and the Tigers produced some incisive passing to create an overlap on the right, with Kyle Warren sending Mather in for his second try.

Mather, making his first start of the season, then intercepted a pass from St Helens skipper Chris Joynt as the visitors mounted a ferocious fightback of their own.

Twice Castleford lost possession in their own 30-metre area and it proved costly as Shiels and Paul Wellens worked the ball out wide, where Gleeson crossed for his second try.

That restored Saints' lead but it was short-lived as Castleford maintained their momentum and panic set in among the visitors' ranks.

A superb offload by evergreen prop Dean Sampson got skipper Danny Orr into his stride and he cleverly put substitute Andy Johnson away for a crucial score.

The Tigers made sure of an upset victory when Saints left winger Anthony Stewart lost possession in a gang-tackle from Mather and Warren, leaving Bartrim with an unopposed run to the line for a try which brought up his 100th point of the season.

Impressive loose forward Ryan Hudson then put the seal on a magnificent win when he forced his way over his side's seventh try two minutes from the end.