GALE IS THE GOLDEN BOY

Luke puts boot in

LUKE GALE clinched a sensational golden point extra-time win to take Castleford into the Grand Final.

Saints were just 28 seconds away from going through in normal time after an amazing late fightback.

They trailed by 10 points with 10 minutes left but dug in to almost pull off an incredible result.

Tries from Tommy Makinson, Mark Percival and Ryan Morgan, and a Percival goal, gave them a two-point lead with two minutes left.

Castleford’s dream looked dead and buried but Morgan agonisingly gave away a penalty at the death.

Gale – who had emergency appendix surgery just 16 days ago – kept his cool to land the kick.

It levelled the scores and took the game into extra time, with Gale the first to attempt a drop-goal.

His 40-metre effort sailed wide and Saints half-back Matty Smith also flopped with a one-pointer chance.

The tension in the 11,235 sell-out crowd was ratcheted up to breaking point before Gale lined up another chance in the sixth minute

Daring

This time it went over to the relief of a club who have deserved an Old Trafford spot for their daring play this year.

They finished the 30-game season 10 points clear of their nearest rivals and 17 clear of Saints.

But they made heavy weather of this, despite a dream start with a try from Zak Hardaker after only 50 seconds.

Saints struck back and the Tigers’ nerves started to get the better of them alarmingly.

As they racked up uncharacteristic errors, Saints pounced twice with tries from Regan Grace and Morgan Knowles.

It gave them a 10-8 half-time lead and Cas needed cool nerves and strong leadership to get through.

It came from England scrum-half Gale who had feared his season was over two weeks ago.

His 57th-minute try calmed them down and Adam Milner then struck to give them a 10-point lead.

It should have been enough but Saints gave them the fright of their lives at the end.