SAINTS' chances of finishing top of Super League suffered a major blow at Castleford.

The Tigers' top-five bid looked to have stalled after winning just one of their previous four games but they held off a thrilling last-gasp rally from the world club champions to pull off a stunning 28-26 victory in a magnificent match at the Jungle.

Saints coach Ian Millward criticised referee Karl Kirkpatrick for not referring Paul Sculthorpe's claims for a last-minute try to the video official but he was forced to concede that the best team won.

Castleford's heroes were Australian half-backs Mitch Healey and Mark Lennon, whose expert kicking and dynamic running helped establish a 22-10 interval lead.

However, both players went off injured in the second half and the Tigers, with Adrian Vowles and Jon Roper forming an unlikely half-back pairing, were forced to defend desperately to hang on for a famous victory.

The Super League champions started and finished the match at their brilliant best but they came up with an alarming number of handling errors and paid a heavy price for a series of defensive lapses which cost them four tries in 16 minutes.

"Our execution was poor but it was our defence that cost us the game," said Millward. "Conceding 22 points in 20 minutes isn't good enough, is it?"