Castleford condemned Salford to relegation as they snatched they snatched the sixth Super League play-off spot with a hard-fought win at The Willows on Sunday afternoon.

The Tigers, with six wins in their last seven matches behind them, went ahead after 12 minutes with a penalty from Wayne Bartrim after Mike Wainwright had been caught offside.

But the Reds produced a battling performance and clawed their way into the lead in the 19th minute when Darren Treacy, Steve Blakeley and Ian Watson combined for David Highton to go over. Blakeley tagged on the conversion to put the Reds 6-2 in front.

Both sides battled hard in a gripping affair but it was the Reds who had to do the most defending and they had a lucky escape when Tigers winger Jon Wells had a try disallowed for a forward pass by Andy Johnson.

Desperate Salford defence kept out the Tigers for most of the first half but they were eventually caught out just before the break when Darren Rogers broke through.

Bartrim fed Orr, whose pass to ex-Salford winger Rogers looked suspiciously forward but the try was awarded with Bartrim tagging on the goal to make it 8-6.

The Reds went ahead 10-8 with two Blakeley penalties early in the second half - the second after Dale Fritz and Andy Lynch were put on report for an alleged spear tackle on Malcolm Alker.

Then Castleford scored the crucial try when Bartrim powered over from dummy half with the Aussie winger adding the conversion to fire the Tigers ahead 14-10.

Salford tried desperately to snatch a winning score but the Tigers held out in front of 5,541 fans.

Castleford added a third try in injury time through Ryan Hudson after Wells collected Steve Blakeley's chip. Bartrim added his fourth goal from four attempts.