CASTLEFORD coach Ian Millward has asked Tigers fans to keep the faith as they prepare to face Huddersfield Giants at home on Sunday (3.30).

Millward made the plea after his side were outplayed by Super League strugglers Widnes on Monday night.

The Tigers, without suspended star man Rangi Chase, were simply not at the races at the Stobart Stadium as they slumped to a 40-10 defeat against a Widnes side who started the match at the foot of the table.

The loss was 12th-placed Castleford’s fifth defeat in their last six Super League games and left them just two points above Widnes, but Millward is confident of better times ahead.

He said: “What I will say to the fans is to hang in there.

“I’m not here to dwell on anyone who is out or who has gone for operations.

“We are in a position at the moment and I have faith that we will get out of it.”

Millward rued the Tigers’ poor completion rate but admitted that the Vikings deserved their victory.

“We had a completion rate of 26%. It’s a simple game, you don’t have the ball you are not going to score. We just didn’t give ourselves a chance. That’s for me to work out why that is,” he said.

Widnes led 18-4 at the interval following first-half tries from Stefan Marsh, Frank Winterstein and Ben Davies, with Castleford’s reply coming from Nick Youngquest.

Millward said: “At half-time we were comfortable to be honest but we didn’t complete and we have had that for a while. We spoke about retention of the ball and exposing some areas but it never happened and we need to look at it.

“Everyone goes on at the amount of tries we conceded but it’s because we didn’t have the ball and we kept putting ourselves under pressure.”

He added: “Widnes were the better team. They were more consistent and better in more areas. I’m not going to downplay their contribution. They were good and they have beaten some good sides here.”

Castleford could have former Leigh half-back Jamie Ellis on show on Sunday after Hull released him with immediate effect this week. The 22-year-old joined Hull on a two-year contract at the start of the season but failed to win a place and last month signed a two-year deal with Castleford from 2013.