It may not have been pretty, but a second successive win and rock-solid defensive performance proves the Giants are getting into the Super League XX groove.
All that’s now required is for Huddersfield to start to show their full attacking potential.
And once they do that, then they’ll have little trouble building handsomely on last week’s 24-12 home win over Widnes and this latest success over a Castleford side who had arrived at the John Smith’s Stadium full of confidence after beating Wigan by 40 the week before.
The Giants simply didn’t give the Tigers a sniff, with Jermaine McGillvary leading the way by winning an epic duel to keep ‘Tank on the Flank’ Justin Carney subdued all game.
His reward was a thoroughly deserved try with two minutes remaining to lighten up what at times was a very poor advert for Super League – although few in the Giants corner were caring about that!
With both teams struggling to string a decent spell of pressure together, it meant clear-cut chances were at a premium.
As a result, a slender 6-0 Giants’ interval lead just about summed it up.
And that came three minutes before the break when former Castleford half-back collected on the Tigers 20, sold a dummy and shot through to score under the posts and in front of the visiting fans for Danny Brough to add the extras.
Up to that moment there was hardly anything to separate the two teams, with Huddersfield coming closest to breaking the deadlock early on.
Great cover defence denied Joe Wardle in the 10th minute after Craig Huby’s top offload had sent Scott Grix racing clear.
Then it was the turn of video referees Phil Bentham and Steve Ganson to deny Wardle from close range five minutes later after Ellis’ 40-20.
But as the half progressed, the Tigers grew into the contest, with rock-solid Huddersfield defence required to keep their visitors at bay and Michael Channing thwarted by the video referee team.
As a result, it looked as it would finish 0-0 at half-time – until Ellis finally struck.
That score gave the Giants just the sot of momentum they needed to take into the start of the second half and they had doubled their lead within four minutes of the restart when Ukuma Ta’ai burst onto Brough’s short pass to score a second converted try under the posts.
Unfortunately, Huddersfield continued to make errors and keep on that role, and another frustrating spell was summed up when Brough missed a relatively straightforward drop goal attempt which would have given them a three-score lead on the hour.
But that frustration was over two minutes later as Brough kept the ball alive on the last tackle and Scott Grix collected off the ground and fed the Giants skipper to send Aaron Murphy in at the corner.
Brough was unable to land the touchline conversion, but landed a penalty with 15 minutes remaining to take the lead up to 18.
And with two minutes remaining on the clock, McGillvary marked a man-of-the-match display by touching down in the corner to seal a thoroughly-deserved victory.
